The Call to War
by Arachnian
Summary: The Master is plucked from the Void by Schrodinger. The Doctor is hot on his trail, but is sidetracked by the troubles of The Hellsing Organization who are dealing with unfinished business of their own as they investigate the mysterious group known as Millennium. With battle lines drawn, the Doctor and the Master charge into combat once again as Millennium and Hellsing clash.
1. Ch 1: The End of Time

**The Call to War**

**Chapter 1: The End of Time**

"ONE!"

Energy arced like lightning from the Master's outstretched hand, staggering Rassilon yet again as the portal collapsed. The mansion's hall shook violently as Gallifrey ceased to exist, ripped back into the Time Lock with all its Lords and Ladies.

"TWO!"

The Master's image flickered, his bioplasmic field failing under the strain of such a massive discharge of unstable energy. A grinning skull replaced his face for an instant as the Master threw bolt after bolt at his torturer.

"THREE!"

Rasillon was on his knees now, insensate and nerveless in primal fear as he was sent back. Back to his race's doom, and back to his own, final death.

"FOUR!"

The Master threw a final bolt, his humanoid image almost disappearing entirely as he staggered, being consumed by the light of the blinding white portal as it closed, slamming the walls of reality shut, with him, his planet, and his people on the other side.

* * *

No light.

No dark.

No up.

No down.

No life.

No time.

Without end.

_Could be worse_. The Master thought to himself.

Thoughts were all he had now, all he was now. None of his senses, even his most basic five, were picking up anything at all. His eyes couldn't even detect the absence of light due to there being no darkness. His ears couldn't even detect the absence of any sound due to there being no silence. He couldn't even taste the inside of his mouth, couldn't even be sure he had a tongue anymore. Without any feeling at all The Master drifted; a wisp of thought in The Void.

_Better this than the Time War again. Better to have tranquil, endless, oblivion…_

Not being close enough to Rassilon and the others to be pulled back all the way into the Time Lock was probably the closest thing to mercy he could expect from the Multiverse from which he had taken so much.

Silence for an age.

Violently jerked back to what passed for consciousness, the Master marshalled his thoughts into order. Something had changed. Before he could take the time to analyse what it might be, it happened again.

A thought, parsed into words, like his own internal monologue. But this did not originate from the Master's mind.

_Herr? Hallo? Sind Sie in Ordnung?_

The language the thought was 'voiced' in was of Human origin, from Earth. New High German if he guessed correctly. Mentally switching to the language, he responded with a directed surface thought.

_Well, I'm in The Void. Apart from that, things are just peachy. Who or what are you supposed to be?_

_Ohhhh, you can speak German?_

The tone that the intruding thought-communications carried reminded the Master of a child: Playful, light-hearted, and curious.

_Yes. And five billion other languages. Now what is all this? How are you in my head? How are you __here__?_

_All that can wait! You're __interesting__, you're __new__, and you can __talk__! So let's just hope it's not true what they say about curiosity and cats…_

The Master quirked a mental eyebrow.

_Cats?_

_Hold on tight, Void-Man! I've never tried __this__ before!_

Another violent shock, this time from actual, physical, contact. _Impossible. Nothing physical can exist in The Void!_

The renegade Time Lord barely had time to process the feeling of a small, humanoid, gloved hand grasping his own before his mind and body were suddenly overwhelmed by searing pain.

* * *

The Doctor replaced the grate over the storage compartment, slamming his hand down on the section of floor good-naturedly.

"There we go, all packed away."

The Time Lord leapt to his feet, feeling younger than he had in centuries.

A simple run outside to the TARDIS had solved the puzzle. If a spacesuit from the 42nd century could withstand the fusion fires of Torajii up close, then it could handle a few hundred thousand rads from a Nuclear Bolt Reactor. Just a quick trip forward in time had been enough to find a replacement helmet. From Wilf's perspective, he had been out of the room for only thirty seconds. The suit held up, four knocks or no four knocks. The Doctor had said his goodbyes to Wilfred and Sylvia and was now back the TARDIS where he belonged.

Bathed, shaved, changed, and refreshed, he reached for a console control. His fingers barely brushed it before he froze. Bringing his hand sharply down onto the console's edge, he gripped it hard, his knuckles turning white. The Doctor grimaced as the events of the last few days came back to him like an avalanche of memory. All the pain, all the horror of The War, dredged up again. To be strung along by prophecies and myths, dooms and portents. To know he was going to die, only to gain a last-minute reprieve. To have to slaughter his entire race a second time, only to have it come to this!

He could smell it again.

He could smell him again.

The Master was still alive.

* * *

Dok eyed the 'offering' with distaste, taking in the sight before him. Warrant Officer Schrodinger stood before him at rigid attention, yet still managing to beam brightly up at his towering creator. The man in the labcoat and the boy in the Hitler Youth uniform were on the _Graf Zeppelin_'s bridge, standing over what was clearly a mangled corpse.

"First of all, Warrant Officer, why aren't you at your post?"

"I am."

Schrodinger raised his eyebrows innocently while inwardly rolling his eyes at the sour-faced man standing in front of him. Yes, technically he was supposed to be at the Opera House with the Colonel and the other humans while the Major, the Captain, and Dok went to South America. But, for someone who was everywhere and nowhere, what was the point in even assigning him a post?

"Hm. Maybe you are, but you should not divide your attention in future."

"Jawohl!" Schrodinger lifted his arm in an exaggerated salute.

Dok's frown only deepened as he tilted his head down, regarding the sad piece of meat before him with multi-lensed spectacles.

"And what… is this supposed to be?"

"I found it, Dok. And you'll never guess where! I-"

"And once again I am forced to admit the folly of engineering a spy with the characteristics of a cat. Originally it started as a private joke but it has now officially gone too far. You cannot simply bring dead things in with you to impress us, especially ones that you have just 'found' who-knows-where."

"No, Dok! You're not listening, I found him-"

"I don't care where you found him! He's disgusting, all charred and torn up like that, and he's gotten blood on the deck of the Major's nice, clean, zeppelin. Throw it overboard at once, and then I want you back here with a mop and bucket!"

"DOK! I found him in the Vakuum-Zustand, the Zwischen-Platz! The In-Between! He's... not normal."

Dok ceased his moral tirade and regarded his creation anew. He recalled the conversations they'd shared all those decades ago, when the young creature now standing before him was still discovering his powers and how to use them. To be honest, much of the underlying physics behind what Schrodinger could do still eluded the Doktor. The In-Between…

"Impossible, there's nothing in that- that Void. It's nowhere, its nothingness."

"But I can go there! And I found a friend. He spoke German and everything!"

Schrodinger looked sadly down at the ravaged body in front of him.

"But now he's dead. I shouldn't have tried to bring him back with me."

"I told you a long time ago, you can't take anyone with you. Although… This man's body survived an unshielded dimension hop partially intact. The corpse may be worth study."

Sensing grudging approval, Schrodinger stared at Dok in surprise, before grinning and lightly kicking the body at his feet.

"Ha! Still worth something, eh, Void-M-"

Schrodinger's sentence was cut off as the devastated corpse suddenly sat upright and grabbed his wrist with a hand that was half-exposed bone and muscle. Golden light poured from the body's eyes and mouth as it levitated into the air, still holding tightly onto Schrodinger's arm.

Eyes wide and panicking, Schrodinger switched rapidly between shouting for help and babbling apologies to the dead man, who was now suspended in a standing position in the centre of an aura of golden energy, hovering with its feet a few inches above the deck.

Dok staggered back in shock and amazement, taking in every detail of the sight before him. What was this? How was this happening? The urge to know and understand kept him rooted to his spot even as an unreasoning fear gripped him.

The zeppelin's bridge crew was in disarray. Half of them drew their sidearms out of instinct, but hesitated to shoot as instinctual dread coursed through the assembled vampires with each renewed, brighter pulse of golden light.

With a final, violent, blast of energy, Schrodinger was thrown clear of the un-corpse as a wave of force bowled Dok over and slammed the crew against their stations. The windows of the bridge would have been smashed had the blast-proof shutters not been down to shield the crew from the daylight outside.

The light remained too intense to look at directly for several moments, and only Dok, with his manifold lenses, was able to see any detail of the figure at the centre of the conflagration. Organs were re-grown, bones were mended, flesh and muscle coated the figure, now made scar-less and whole. Then he… changed. Dok only caught a quick glimpse of the fully healed man before the energy surged over his features, remolding his face and body. By the time the light finally faded and the smoke had cleared, a new man sat crouched naked on one knee in the centre of a circle of blackened char that now marred the Nazi crest on the bridge's deck.

Jerking his head upright, the Master surveyed the scene before him, taking in every detail in an instant.

_Bridge of some form of transport, probably military judging by those weapons. Crewed by humans. All the technology looks archaic, mid-twentieth century at a guess…_

"What year is it?"

The Master was shocked for a moment by the sound of his new voice, but quickly readjusted himself. Having gone through well over a dozen bodies in his lives, he had become accustomed to change. Rising to his full height, he noted the slightly altered stature of his new form; a little wider across the shoulders, a little more defined muscle than before. He absently ran his fingers through his hair. It was slightly curled, and black once again, judging from his body hair. While briefly wishing for a mirror, The Master noticed casually that every man on the bridge had their weapons leveled at him now, with the exception of the emaciated one in the labcoat. He smirked confidently. His frame literally hummed with excess energy, and it seemed the instability caused by his botched resurrection had finally been corrected. The way he was right now, the crew could empty their guns at him and he wouldn't even be scratched.

"I'll ask you again-"

A clanking sound behind him made him spin around in reflex, reaching instinctually for a weapon that wasn't there. The door at the back of the bridge opened, revealing a towering form. Clad in a dark-green greatcoat and military cap, all that was visible of the man behind the uniform were two red eyes in a grim, square-jawed face and a fringe of white, unkempt hair over his brows. Two guns were holstered at his hips; pistols with extremely long barrels. Their muzzles almost scraped the floor as the massive soldier walked steadily toward the Master with his gloved fists clenched, murder in his eyes, cruelty written in his face.

Taken aback by the sheer aggressiveness of the man, The Master dropped into a martial arts stance, preparing to fight his way past the advancing soldier and seek his answers elsewhere. The standoff was ended by a voice calling from behind the white-haired man's massive bulk.

"Captain! Hold for a moment, if you please."

The monolith ceased his march and stood in place, crimson irises still locked with the Master's piercing brown eyes. A second man stepped into view from behind the Captain. Short, blonde, and profoundly fat, the newcomer wore a white three-piece suit and thick, round spectacles which eerily reflected the lights of the bridge, giving his eyes a disquieting lamp-like quality.

"…Doktor, would you be so kind as to tell me why there is a naked man on my bridge?"

Jolted from his stunned silence, Dok got fully to his feet and responded haltingly.

"Major, it- Schrodinger- He brought- He was dead!"

Turning to and fro, Dok spied Schrodinger cowering on the deck immediately behind him, curled partially into the fetal position. Yanking him up by his arm, Dok reprimanded him sharply.

"You ignorant coward! Explain yourself to the Major!"

Dok's angry grimace changed instantly as he saw the expression on Schrodinger's face. His ears were folded against his head, his face was contorted in fear, and tears welled in his eyes.

"Dok, he- I- I couldn't move! He held me there… I couldn't move."

His fears intensifying, Dok glanced over at the man who had changed his face, now in conversation with the Major.

"Why couldn't I move, Dok?" Schrodinger was breathing heavily now, tears beginning to trail down his cheeks. "Y- You told me that was impossible. You promised!"

The man in the labcoat had no words for his creation, for once in his life completely at a loss. Dok swore under his breath.

"What in the hell is he?"

* * *

As the 'Doktor' searched for his feline companion, The Master remained focused on the suited man in front of him, clearly the one in charge.

"I think I might have inferred enough to clear up what has happened, if you'll permit me. Major, was it?"

The Major angled an eyebrow slightly and inclined his head.

"I was trapped in the Void, the nothingness between dimensions. If I'm correct, and I usually am, your young boy… cat… thing… is a dimension-jumper, yes?"

"That's one way of describing his abilities, yes."

"Ah. Good. Well you see, he found me and tried to bring me back to reality, but as I could have told him was I given the chance…" The Master fumed silently. "Unshielded travel through dimensional walls is a tricky business. By the time whatever was left of me arrived… wherever this is… I was very much dead. Luckily I possess a trick allowing me to 'cheat death'. After a fashion, that is. It is a fairly violent process, however, and must have startled your crew considerably, for which I apologize most sincerely."

_Best to be sincere, helpful, and cooperative until I get my bearings. No use making enemies until I know where I am_.

The Major seemed to take the Master's exposition in stride, pausing for only a moment to digest before speaking.

"What is your name?"

The Master ran through a mental list of aliases he had used over the centuries. So many names, all of them steeped in death, but none of them rang true in his soul like the first name: The first and most important of his titles.

"I am usually referred to as The Master."

The Major's mouth, which had been at a perpetual good-natured half-smile since he entered the bridge, now grinned fully. He nodded again, as if he had just confirmed a theory to himself.

"Is that so?"

"Universally." The Master responded coolly.

The Major's shining lenses were tilted exactly to meet the Master's own piercing gaze. The scene remained static, the two men sizing each other up, the only sound the distant drone of the zeppelin's powerful engines.

"Well then, first thing's first." The Major broke the silence, his genuine smile never leaving his face. "Captain, give this man your coat. He must be freezing."

With no visible hesitation, but with great deliberateness, the Captain undid his pistol belt, letting the massive weapons drop carelessly to the floor.

_He doesn't think he needs them…_ The Master puzzled over the mysteries of this man and his behavior. _Is it sheer obedience; military discipline? Does he so casually dismiss me as a threat? Or does he still have something up his sleeve?_

The Captain then unbuttoned his greatcoat, revealing a bare, muscular chest, at no point taking his eyes off of the Master. He then handed the tent-like bulk of the heavy garment, as wordlessly as ever, to the dark-haired man.

The Master nodded politely in thanks and began to don the coat. It was, of course, too big, but it did do something against the chill which he was starting to notice as the excess energy of his regeneration began to wear off. _Why do they not care about the cold? No-one else is dressed warmly… are they not full-human after all?_

As the Master dressed himself, the Major spoke again. "I must confess something of an advantage over you at this point, Time Lord."

Stopping mid-button, the Master regarded the fat man anew.

"My organization has people everywhere, including operatives deep within UNIT, an international task force that I believe you have… some passing familiarity with?"

The Master's eyes narrowed. "So you've read my file. Am I supposed to be intimidated?"

The Major threw his hands up in a surrender gesture, concern diminishing, but not quite eliminating his smile. "No, no! Of course not, my Gallifreyan friend. I simply wish to show that there is no need to explain to me who or what you are. I am well aware of how… dangerous you are when you believe you're being underestimated."

Fully clad at last, The Master stood to his full height, haughtily looking down at the Major. He spoke his next words carefully, enunciating precisely and slowly.

"What year is it? Where am I? Who are you people?"

His smile reappearing, the Major responded. "It is _anno domini_ nineteen-hundred and ninety-nine. You are on the bridge of the _Graf Zeppelin II_, a rigid airship flying approximately two-hundred metres above the Atlantic Ocean, and it is my distinct pleasure to introduce and welcome you to the Millennium Group."

* * *

**Author's Notes: Well, there's the first chapter.**

**I wrote the bulk of this story over the last few months, but the idea for it came into my head about a year ago. Turns out being unemployed frees up a lot of time to write wacky crossover fan fiction. I didn't trust myself to upload it chapter by chapter because I know how hard I'd be on myself if for any reason I couldn't update regularly (even if nobody was reading it). So I held off until it was 100% done.**

**This will be a crossover in the style of 'new-characters-interacting-with-an-established-story'. The story of Hellsing Ultimate will be primary. This is very much 'Doctor Who characters in Hellsing'; not 'Hellsing characters in Doctor Who'.**

**My decision to include the Tenth Doctor in this was motivated by my love for David Tennant's incarnation of the character, as well as my feeling that he would fit in well with the dark and turbulent events of the Hellsing OVAs. **

**This was never intended to be a 'fix fic'. I wanted to include Ten in the story, but wanted it to take place after ****_The End of Time_**** so that I could introduce The Master to the story the way I wanted. Therefore I needed Ten to not die, so I found a solution. Similarly, as entertaining as the 'rabid-dog' characterization of The Master by John Simm was, I needed a different Master for story purposes, therefore the regeneration.**

**I'll be including references to the 'Classic Series' of Doctor Who, but an encyclopedic knowledge of the show's 50-year run is in no way required to understand this fic. I'll be including explanations of my shout-outs at the end of each chapter.**

**On that note, the spacesuit used off-screen by the Doctor to save Wilf was the same one he used in ****_42_**** (2007) when he was dangling outside of a spaceship literally within spitting distance of a sentient star that hated him. He needed a replacement helmet as the visor of his was broken in ****_The Waters of Mars_**** (2009). It just makes sense to me that it would be able to protect him in this case as well; making his sacrifice in ****_The End of Time_**** more of a suicidal bowing-to-the-inevitable than it might have been otherwise.**

**But like the man says: I'm just a viewer with an opinion.**

**The Doctor and The Master enter this story between OVAs three and four, when Alucard, Seras and Pip are still stranded in South America, and while the Major is still travelling by zeppelin from Rio to Millennium's secret base.**

**The Master's claim to speak five billion languages is a reference to the Doctor's boast to the Daleks in _The Parting of the Ways_ (2005).**

**The exchange where The Master introduces himself to the Major is taken directly from his first appearance in ****_Terror of the Autons _****(1971).**

**The endearingly bad German accents the English Dub voice actors employ for the men and women of Millennium will only be transcribed when they are speaking to someone in English. I see no reason to write a line in a thick accent when it's a German talking German to someone who understands German. When the characters don't have an accent, it's because they're speaking among themselves.**

**Obviously this story will contain spoilers for all ten episodes of Hellsing Ultimate and for Doctor Who up to the beginning of Series 5 (That's Season 31 to you old-school fans).**


	2. Ch 2: Introductions and Preparations

**Chapter 2: Introductions and Preparations**

The TARDIS settled with a thud, the Doctor quickly moved around its console, carefully checking its various readouts and displays.

"Earth, 1999, just outside London from the looks of it..."

Running his hand slowly through the vertical spikes of his hair, the Doctor spun himself around and leaned back on the console's edge, facing the door.

He had been to this year four times before, lifetimes ago. Dealing with a particularly vicious Millenium Bug, banishing the Great Intelligence to the ends of the universe, crashing a high-society New Year 's Eve party to battle the Nestene Consciousness… and regenerating for the seventh time, but that one had been in San Francisco.

All four events had occurred on or around the 31st of December. But this was far earlier in 1999, and those fights were still months before him, yet still centuries behind him.

The Doctor shook his head as if to clear it. _906 years and my timeline just gets more and more tangled._

Launching himself at once towards the TARDIS door, he donned his trench-coat and cautiously let himself out, taking care not to let the hinges creak.

Immediately in front of him was another door, made of old, varnished wood. A broom and dustpan leaned on the wall to one side of its frame. Other cleaning supplies were on the floor around the TARDIS, which seemed to have landed in a small storage area just off of a larger room. He could hear a woman's voice coming from beyond the door, and pressed his ear against the surface to listen.

"Well done, Alucard. Her Majesty herself has called for a gathering of the Round Table."

Here she paused, as if listening to a response only she could hear.

_On the phone, maybe? But more importantly, she's a member of the Round Table? That makes it a very short list of people she could be._

The Round Table had existed for centuries and was a convention of twelve men and women who ran Britain from behind the scenes at the behest of the monarch. A shadow government in the truest sense, their existence had only been hinted at while the Doctor worked for UNIT, and he himself had never attended a meeting.

He got the feeling they were a little afraid of him.

"Return at once to make your report. Do not keep her waiting."

She paused, and then the Doctor heard a light intake of breath. When the woman spoke again, it was to shout, with unmasked anger and a hint of embarrassment.

"Don't speak to me, you monster! Now return immediately, damn it!"

There was a clattering as a cordless phone was violently returned to its cradle. This was followed by a further clattering as the edge of the Doctor's coat brushed against the precariously balanced broom. Before he could grab it, the whole affair crashed to the ground, dislodging further items from the overfilled shelves, adding to the clamor. There was an instant of absolute silence in which the Doctor dared to hope he had not been detected…

Then three loud gunshots rang out in quick succession, poking neat holes through the door and expending themselves uselessly against the TARDIS' shields. The Doctor stood hunched over; frozen in the same position he'd been in while trying to stop the avalanche. Had he been standing up, he would have taken all three rounds to the chest. There was a slamming noise as another door burst open. Footsteps tapped against tile as someone new ran into the main room. An elderly man's voice spoke with alarm and concern.

"Sir Integra, are you all right?"

"There's something in the broom cupboard." The woman raised her voice. "If you're still alive, come out where I can see you. Or do I have to drag you out?"

"Alright, alright! I'm coming out. I've got my hands up. Don't shoot!"

The Doctor opened the door gingerly and stepped into the main room with his arms raised. The room was massive, high-ceilinged, with a tiled floor and a back wall dominated by floor-to-ceiling windows that let in the bright morning sunlight from outside, an oddity for London. The only items of furniture in the huge room were an antique desk and an ornate chair behind it. Standing next to the desk, her revolver pointed squarely at the Doctor was a tall, thin woman with long, pale-blonde hair and round spectacles. Her blue eyes were brought out perfectly by them and by her dark complexion. She wore a dark double-breasted suit and white gloves. Beside her was a man in late middle-age, though in excellent shape from the look of him. He wore his black hair tied back in a high, short, ponytail, and had a monocle set in his left eye. The man wore a black vest and tie over a white shirt, with black trousers. He appeared to be some form of servant.

"My name is the Doctor, I didn't mean to sneak, I just- sort of- arrived here… Can you tell me where I am exactly?" The Doctor grinned sheepishly. "I'm always a bit lost, I'm afraid."

The man and the woman looked at each other sharply, before turning back to regard the Doctor curiously.

"Or maybe just tell me who you are?" he asked hopefully.

"The Doctor?" the woman responded, making no attempt to lower her gun.

"Er, no. That's my name."

"You are The Doctor?"

"Usually, yeah..." The woman's face was unreadable. "Erm, have we met?"

"No, but… you knew my father." She slowly lowered her gun to her side.

The Doctor quirked an eyebrow and cautiously lowered his arms.

"I am Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing. My father was Sir Arthur Hellsing."

"Hellsing? Sir Arthur of the Hellsing family?" The Doctor looked around in amazement. "Aw, no way! Then this must be…" He ran to the nearest window and pressed his palms and face against the glass. "Hellsing Manor! I've never seen the inside of it before!"

The Doctor whirled around and pointed a finger at Integra. "Your father was one of the maddest, bravest men I've ever met! Tracking German spies and Cybermen through the streets of London in the middle of the Blitz- Cor, the times we had…"

Integra smiled despite herself, "Yes, I remember the stories. He described you differently, though."

"Ah, well I've-" The Doctor paused, his hand scratching the back of his neck, remembering… brown tweed jacket, zig-zaggy tie, panama hat… "Made a few changes since then."

Integra nodded. "Regeneration."

At the surprised look on the Doctor's face, she added "I read your file. Uncle Alistair saw my father as something of a mentor after he first experienced the… extra-normal, shall we say."

The Doctor grinned. "Oh, I'll bet they got on famously." Turning slowly on a heel to face the man with the monocle, his look darkened. "And that would make you-"

"Walter C. Dornez." The man said, bowing to the Doctor. "It's a pleasure to see you again, sir."

"-The Angel of Death." The Doctor finished coldly. "Still hanging on, then?"

"Just as best as I can, sir" Walter's face quirked into a half-smile.

Not willing to let an awkward silence hang, the Doctor wheeled back on the same heel to once again face Integra.

"Soooo, what's the problem?"

"Problem, Doctor? That seems like something I should ask you. You bring chaos wherever you go."

"Ah, no, no, no, no, not this time. This time you've beaten me to the punch in terms of ominous sights and portents of doom." The Doctor swayed from side to side slightly, seeming pleased with himself.

"How so?"

"When I looked outside, I saw armed guards patrolling the grounds. Nothing too special about that… if they were in full Hellsing uniform, which they were not. Your gun-" He paused, sniffing the air. "-was firing mercury-tipped exploding rounds. Blessed, too, I'd imagine. This, when added to the freshly-disinfected smell of the manor, the barely-disguised bullet holes on the outside of the door Walter came through, as well as the fact that he just happened to be within dashing distance of you certifies for me something which I could have probably discerned from your overall jumpiness alone."

The Doctor put his hands in the pockets of his coat. "You're vulnerable, you're under siege, and you just barely survived a first strike. Am I right?"

Integra paused, and then laid her revolver on the polished surface of her desk. "Yes, Doctor, you are. The mansion was attacked a short time ago, and virtually all of my men were slaughtered. That's why you see mercenaries outside instead of god-fearing Englishmen, that's why you sense battle-damage all over, and that's why you'll understand why I haven't apologized for almost shooting you."

"No need, Sir Integra." The Doctor's tone was grim.

"At least it wasn't mice this time." Said Walter, breaking the dismal atmosphere, causing the Doctor to grin and Integra's mouth to quirk.

"Just to hazard a guess, was this attack of the vampiric variety? Your family history precedes you."

"Yes, Doctor, but not just any Vampires. Let me tell you about Millennium…"

* * *

"So there you have it, Doctor, you now know as much as we do. An international network of Vampires and their servants; seemingly pledged to destroy us. I can only hope we'll know more once Alucard returns from South America for the Round Table Conference."

"Yes, your vampire servant. You mentioned him." The Doctor's face was dark with worry. He had faced greater threats, but now? Here? With him so hot on the Master's trail?

Integra, now seated behind her desk, regarded the Doctor carefully. "Is that a problem?"

"All modern vampires are descended from the race of Great Vampires, a species of the Dark Times in the early universe. My kind fought theirs in the First Great Time War. We won, but their spawn still infects planets across the galaxies. Since that time, every Time Lord was tasked to kill a vampire whenever he met one, even at the cost of his own life."

The Doctor focused fully on Integra again, breaking free of his memories, remembering his own encounter with one of the Great Vampires of old in E-Space.

"Oh I'll help you, alright. Vampires by their nature drain and destroy life. They're more a plague than a species, not even properly alive."

"There we are in agreement."

"-Which is why I can't understand why you'd have one working for you."

Integra remained impassive. "Alucard is far more than an ordinary Vampire. His servitude and loyalty to me and to Great Britain is beyond question, forged by his own choice and made unbreakable by a century of my family's occult research."

"His own choice? He willingly put himself on a leash?"

Integra smiled. "If you like, you can ask him to explain his reasons to you in person. His plane will be landing tonight."

"Well, good. I'd very much like to meet this 'extra-ordinary' vampire of yours."

_Though by the sound of that name, I think I already have…_

* * *

The Master leaned against the frame of the gangway, cloaked by the shadows just inside the zeppelin. He watched as the Major made his way down the red-carpeted stairs, returning the salute of his troops.

_Vampires. One __thousand__ vampires._ It simultaneously made him want to recoil in instinctual fear and laugh out loud in giddy anticipation.

Even he had paid attention at the Academy when Lecturer Borusa spoke about the Great Vampires of The Dark Times; their power, their malevolence, and their ultimate defeat. Even these Nazis, certainly among the least and weakest of their descendants, were a source of fear and revulsion for him. On an objective level, the Master understood that this fear was a response due to the careful conditioning he had received during his education on Gallifrey. Everything Time Lord in the Master was urging him to fight, to destroy these monsters before they could devour him-

-but he had worked alongside worse monsters. And this Major of theirs certainly spoke convincingly. His attitude reminded the Master of The War Chief in some ways, but for the fact that this pudgy creature was far more entertaining than that reckless idiot had ever been.

_Yes… I am a soldier; a warrior! I fight; it is what I'm best at. It's what I am. Drums or no Drums._

For the Drumbeat, at last, had stopped. He first noticed it during his first night spent on the _Graf Zeppelin II_. Alone in his cabin and at peace for the first time since his regeneration, he quickly noticed the absence. What a joyful event that was! Free of Rassilon's taint, free of the madness, free of the damned noise! He had gazed at himself in the mirror, a happy smile stretched across his face, a new man…

And then he had watched as the smile turned to a rictus grin, as his brows furrowed and his eyes narrowed. _New man, yes. But you can't teach an old Time Lord new tricks._

_I'll tag along with this Millennium Group. The Major seems intelligent enough to know to treat me as an equal partner, and if he can actually do what he claims he is capable of doing, then this little adventure should become a rather enjoyable spectacle __very__ quickly indeed._

_And then there's the Doctor to consider. I can sense him coming, throwing himself after me like always… The Major knows about him, wants to use me to take him out of the equation. I'll be more than happy to oblige him that, despite his disturbing eagerness to see the two of us fight._

_Drums or no Drums, Doctor, war is coming!_

The Master smiled quietly and woke from his reverie. The Major, the Captain, and the Doktor had reached the humans. The show was about to begin…

"What the hell is this, Major?!"

The Colonel was old for a human, and very nearly apoplectic with rage.

"There's simply no way I can tell you that, Colonel. My orders are top secret, issued personally by the late _Fuhrer_."

The Major's smug tone and attitude was clear even from this distance. One could almost hear his self-satisfied smirk.

The Colonel violently backhanded the shorter man with a closed fist, knocking the Major to the ground. The ranks of vampires remained stoically impassive.

"Don't you dare take that attitude with me!" The Colonel beat the Major's prone form with his cane, punctuating his words with repeated heavy strikes. "Why won't you turn us into vampires?! Why?! Why?! Answer me, you miserable swine!"

As he raised his cane above his head for another blow, two things happened in quick succession. The top half of the cane was blown off by an exceedingly accurate musket shot. An instant later, the remainder of the cane was vaporized by a similarly accurate beam of yellow laser-light, accompanied by a shrill noise. The wood of the cane was now splinters, its metal handle a puddle of slag burning its way into the immaculate red carpet.

The Colonel clutched his scorched hand in pain and fear, looking for the origins of the shots.

A collection of six figures stood partway down the carpet in almost total shadow, a distance away from the Major and the Colonel. The Captain and the Doktor stood in the back, with Schrodinger just in front of the Captain, hands on his hips. Before them stood a tall, thin woman with dark hair trailing to the floor. She wore a dark, double-breasted suit and rested an antique musket casually across her shoulder. Its barrel was still smoking. Next to her was the Master, finally fully dressed. He had been lent a dark suit that matched his size, and had donned fingerless gloves and a black leather greatcoat to combat the cold of the airship. The Master carefully tucked his new laser screwdriver back into the pocket of his coat. It had been fairly simple to cobble together a replacement device from materials on the zeppelin, and to make a few enhancements. Dok had even lent a hand once he had overcome his initial suspicions. The man was a genius at making archaic technology do impossible things. The design of the new screwdriver had ended up looking a little too 'heroic realist' for the Master's taste, but he supposed that it was important to fall in line with his allies' chosen aesthetic, tasteless as it may be.

Stepping ahead of the group was a large, heavily-muscled woman with short strawberry-blonde hair. She wore sleeveless form-fitting body armour over her torso with standard-issue army pants and combat boots. On her shoulder rested a massive, wicked-looking scythe. Tattoos of occult script and eldritch designs covered what was visible of the right half of her body, and her mismatched eyes added to her unbalanced appearance. She spoke around a smouldering cigarette in her mouth.

"That's enough back-talk from you, Colonel. One more childish outburst and I'll take your fucking head off."

The woman beside the Master turned her gaze onto him thoughtfully. "Nice shooting, by the way." She said pleasantly.

The Master suddenly realized that the suit he now wore could only have belonged to this woman. No one else's measurements remotely made sense. Realizing he had been blatantly looking the woman up and down, he cleared his throat awkwardly. "Not so bad yourself." He muttered.

The massed ranks of vampires had their guns pointed squarely at the Colonel and the other humans. There was no doubt who was in command here.

"Major… What is this?" the Colonel spoke through his fear as the Major stood, his expression unchanged from before his beating. "What task could be so great that it would require an army of a thousand vampires?!"

"I intend to imbibe upon the infinite pleasure of war." The Major spoke matter-of-factly, blood running from his nose. "And so I shall bring forth another, and another war, and again and again."

Turning to face the Master, the Major's smile widened. "The sky… is no longer the limit."

The Master returned the Major's grin. _Yes, Major, that's it. I'll give you the TARDIS, I'll give you war unending, across the whole wide universe… But __I__ rule the ashes you leave behind!_

* * *

**Author's Notes: The Doctor's recollection of the tumultuous events of New Year's Eve 1999 are from, respectively, the novel ****_Millennium Shock _****(4th Doctor), the novel ****_Millennial Rites _****(6th Doctor), the 8-page comic story ****_Plastic Millennium_**** (7th Doctor), and the 1996 Doctor Who TV Movie.**

**I imagined The Doctor's adventures with Sir Arthur Hellsing and Walter to take place during the events of the novel ****_Illegal Alien_****, when he was in his seventh incarnation.**

**'Uncle Alistair' is mentioned because I just liked the idea that the Brigadier and Integra's father would have teamed up at some point, and, of course, gotten along like a house on fire.**

**The Doctor's reference to the Great Vampires is based off of their appearance in ****_State of Decay_**** (1980).**

**The Fifth Doctor met Vlad the Impaler in the audio story ****_Son of the Dragon._**** This was perfect from my point of view, as it allowed the Doctor and Alucard to have history together; the Doctor now being the only person left who knew him while he was alive.**

**'Lecturer' Borusa is a time lord character from ****_The Deadly Assassin_**** (1976), ****_The Invasion of Time_**** (1978), ****_Arc of Infinity_**** (1983), and ****_The Five Doctors_**** (1983) who was a teacher to the Doctor and I am assuming to the Master as well.**

**The War Chief is a time lord character from ****_The War Games_**** (1969). Another former classmate and friend of the Doctor, he later became a cunning, tactically-minded, ambitious, arrogant renegade who recklessly burned through his regenerations in pursuit of military dominance of the universe.**

**It made sense to me that the drumbeat in The Master's head would cease now that Rassilon's escape attempt had failed.**


	3. Ch 3: The Round Table Conference

**Chapter 3: The Round Table Conference**

Midnight in London. A full moon loomed overhead, dominating the night sky over the great city, bustling even at this late hour. Underground, concealed far below the city streets, The Round Table was meeting. The meeting-place was one of Britain's best-kept secrets, and was protected by manifold layers of security. The Queen, after all, was to be chairing the meeting.

The Doctor waited alone in the spartan antechamber, pacing concernedly. He could hear the quiet voices as the Convention of Twelve and the Iscariot delegation discussed preliminaries.

Iscariot. As if he needed another reason to stay out of the meeting room. Vampire hunters extraordinaire, they had been protecting the human race from vampiric threats for the last two thousand years, but the Doctor had a history of getting on the Catholic Church's bad side. As well, from what he'd heard from Integra, this 'Section XIII' had a very medieval outlook, and didn't seem to care who ended up at the end of their blades as long as they weren't Catholics.

And then there was The Round Table itself. Most of them seemed like decent men, doing what they could behind the scenes to keep Britain safe, but one name stood out in particular.

Yvonne Hartman.

It made perfect sense for her to be here of course. When it came to threats to British security that needed to be kept out of the public eye, Torchwood obviously deserved its own seat at the Round Table. The Battle of Canary Wharf was still eight years in the future, along with all the pain that carried. To go in that room, to meet Yvonne for the first time again. Now… Would mean crossing his own timeline.

He steeled himself. Despite the risks, he had to take the chance. Time is flexible, time is… wobbly. The timeline would sort itself out; it always did. Britain's future, perhaps the world's future, was at stake now. And there was still the Master to contend with.

None of this was the true source of his nervousness, he realized. Millennium, Iscariot, Torchwood, the Master… They could wait a few minutes, because right now, the man walking at a steady pace down the hallway towards him had his full attention.

He was tall, taller than the Doctor, and wore a full-length blood-red coat. His suit and tie were that of a bygone age; he looked something of a time-traveller himself. His white gloves bore eldritch seals on their backs. Above his immaculately-pressed collar was a pale, handsome, aristocratic face. His eyes were shielded by sunglasses; their lenses had a red tint. A cloud of sable-black hair flowed and danced around the crown of his head like the flame of a torch, sweeping back behind him in a flowing wave as he strode.

The man was flanked by a young blonde woman in Hellsing Uniform on his right. On his left walked a fit-looking man with an eye-patch and sticking-plaster on the bridge of his nose. He wore his waist-length light-brown hair in a braid and had on an odd assortment of bright, pastel-colored clothes. It looked rather like a kitschy tourist souvenir stand had exploded with him inside.

The procession stopped when the Doctor placed himself squarely between the trio and the door to the meeting room.

The shadows seemed to lengthen, then grow, and finally enveloped the room in a cloak of darkness. The Doctor found himself unable to see anything but the tall man's red, glowing lenses, and the predatory grin that shone under them like a knife-blade in the dark.

The Doctor struggled to remain outwardly calm, even as the temperature dropped and his breath started to fog the air around him.

_Just an illusion. Don't let this monster rattle you. We have to cooperate to stop the greater threat… But for that there must be __common ground__!_

Steeling himself for the gamble he was about to take, the Doctor grinned back at the nightmare.

"It's been a long time, Vlad."

It was as if a switch had been flipped. The Doctor and the three Hellsing agents were returned to the perfectly normal, well-lit antechamber. The smile was gone from the face of the man in the coat. In its place was a cautiously curious expression. His voice was rich and deep when he spoke.

"Doctor?"

The blonde woman looked from the Doctor to her master in confusion. "Doctor? Doctor who?" She was silenced by a hand gesture from the red-coated man. The Doctor spoke again.

"You remember me, then? I'm flattered."

"Your mind feels familiar... But your appearance is changed."

"So is yours. You got a shave and a decent haircut at last."

"But I see you still dress like a mad clown."

The Doctor paused momentarily. The two had unconsciously begun circling each other in the small room like two apex predators spoiling for a fight.

The Doctor laughed out loud.

"Your boss has asked me to come in and… consult on this Millennium business. Not too sure how I feel about employing vampires to fight vampires, but I'm hoping your report will make things more clear."

The other man raised an eyebrow "Straight to business, Doctor? You have changed."

The Doctor stepped aside and swept his arm toward the door. "Plenty of time to catch up later. We have a country to save now. After you, Count."

Smiling thinly, the Doctor's old acquaintance took the two steps to the door.

"I am no longer the man you knew, Doctor."

"Then what would you prefer?" The Doctor asked, knowing the answer already.

"Sir Arthur called me Alucard."

The double doors to the main hall were flung open with a blast of telekinetic force. The men and women sitting at the long table inside turned toward the noise. Alucard and the Doctor walked in side-by-side, the vampire's entourage a respectful distance behind.

"We have returned to you, my master." Alucard announced.

"Well executed, my servant. The Queen awaits you both. Remove your glasses." Integra instructed from her seat at the head of the table.

Shedding his sunglasses, Alucard walked leisurely towards the end of the room, where a throne sat on a raised dais, it and its occupant cast into silhouette by artificial light streaming in from the windows set behind it to give the illusion of daylight. The Doctor kept pace with the vampire, walking along the other side of the table. The white-haired Iscariot leader, Enrico Maxwell glared across the table at Alucard in obvious distaste. Simultaneously, the blonde Yvonne Hartman stared at the Doctor with wide eyes and a disturbingly… hungry expression. The Doctor carefully kept his eyes faced forwards.

The man in red and the man in blue reached the far side of the room and stood before the high-backed throne.

"It's been a very long time, vampire. Time lord. Come closer, let me look at you."

The two men glanced at each other and then knelt before the Queen. Leaning forward and stretching out her arms, she reached out and gently took hold of each of their heads, lightly tilting them to and fro like a mother checking her children's faces for dirt. Alucard and the Doctor grinned indulgingly as the Queen addressed them.

You've changed your face yet again, Doctor. It seems you're younger every time we meet."

"An old man's vanity, your Majesty. I hope we can have tea again soon. Perhaps when all this unpleasantness is done with."

Smiling slightly, the Queen turned to Alucard. "It's the same with you, Alucard. All these years and you haven't aged a day. Unfortunately, time's march has not been as kind to me." She spoke with a hint of amusement. "Can you believe how quickly I became an old woman?"

"I still see the same spirited young woman I met fifty years ago, your Majesty. In fact, to my eyes, time has made you even more beautiful, your Highness."

Laughing politely, the Queen sat back. "Proceed with your report, vampire. And Doctor; attend carefully."

The pair stood again. The Doctor placed himself to one side as Alucard addressed the Round Table.

"Fifty-five years ago, a deranged Nazi Major attempted to breed a vampire army. Walter and I laid waste to their operation. However, it seems they simply refuse to die. They've returned, replenished their numbers, and are ready to complete their original mission. That's what Millennium truly is: The Last Battalion."

Reactions of mixed shock and alarm circled the table. The Doctor remained impassive, but his thoughts whirled within his head.

_So that's it, then. An army of artificially-created vampires and a commander mad enough to set them against the whole world. Their humanity given up in search for power, chasing the myth of immortality. Like Rassilon… But how will they strike? Where, and when?_

His train of thought was broken by a sudden interruption: The voice of a child spoke from the foot of the table.

"I guess Mr. Tubalcain's spurts of blood must've given us avay."

The cheerful, German-accented voice came from a near-human boy who stood at the far end of the room. Feline ears grew from his skull, and he wore the uniform of a Hitler Youth member. He had definitely not been there a moment ago.

"Ze Major sure blew zat vun."

The man whom Alucard had entered with and the cigarette-smoking priest with the Iscariot delegation drew guns almost too quickly for the Doctor to follow. He quickly darted forward to Integra's side, his arms outstretched.

"Wait!"

The cat-boy's gesture copied the Doctor's almost exactly. Raising his gloved hands, he spoke, beginning to walk to the table's edge.

"Vhoa there, I'm just the messenger. I'm not here to fight anyvun."

No-one lowered their weapons.

"Explain this." Integra demanded.

"My deepest apologies, ma'am." Walter responded. "I don't know how he got past security."

The boy placed a heavy metal box down on the table's polished surface. "Zey are useless against me. I am everywhere und nowhere."

The Doctor's eyebrows rose. Stealthily, he retrieved his sonic screwdriver from his coat while the newcomer seemed distracted by Alucard's blonde companion. An initial scan revealed no details.

_A mutated human of some kind, but there are some strange space-time irregularities that seem unrelated to his biology. That's all I can tell with a covert scan._

Turning from the now-flustered Hellsing woman, Millennium's messenger spoke again.

"To ze gathered representatives of the Vatican and Great Britain: My commanding officer, ze glorious Major, has a message for all of you. Please attend carefully."

Hearing that phrase from both the Queen and from this boy in such quick succession, the Doctor suddenly remembered where he had heard it before, and exactly who enjoyed using it most. A jolt of panic gripped him.

_What if…_

The Hitler Youth seemed to be experiencing technical difficulties. Both the box, apparently some sort of portable television, and the remote control in the boy's hand were crafted with the same aesthetic and design that was popular in Europe about sixty years ago: All black Bakelite and dull steel. It was no surprise that Millennium's technological sophistication had not significantly increased since the 1940s.

Rolling his eyes as the cat-boy continued to struggle with the remote, the Doctor made to draw his sonic screwdriver and jolt the apparatus into functioning.

"Vhat's going on? Zere's no picture! Warrant Officer Schrodinger, ze screen is not working-"

The tinny voice barking orders from the television's speakers was suddenly cut off by an all-too familiar high-pitched whine.

"Oh! Hold on… Right zere. Zhat's good."

The Doctor froze, his screwdriver still only half-out of his jacket pocket.

_That sound-_

The screen switched from a zoomed-in view of a man dressed in white to a field of mangled corpses. The bodies had literally been torn apart. Entrails and limbs were strewn everywhere amid pools of blood.

"Major! Looks like you've really got your hands full." Schrodinger spoke aloud.

"No, things are going vell. It feels as if a weight has finally been lifted from my shoulders. I'm feeling great, in fact!"

The view switched back to the man speaking from the box. Heavyset, blonde, and bespectacled, he stared out at the men and women around the table. Beside him stood a second figure, appearing as his opposite in every way. Tall, slender, dark-haired and black-clad, the second man held a small metal cylinder in his hand, golden light beaming from the tip like a fluorescent bulb, illuminating the scene.

The Doctor recognized him instantly. "Master."

The man in black grinned. "Doctor."

The red-coated vampire addressed the screen. "Major."

The man in white responded. "Alucard. I'm so happy to see you again. It's been really far too long!"

The vampire laughed good-humoredly and returned the Major's smirk. The two Time Lords continued to stare each-other down silently, the Doctor's scowl reflecting the Master's smile. Yvonne Hartman stared at the screen in rapt fascination.

"What is it that you want?" Integra's blunt question broke the spell.

"Hm?" The Major seemed to notice Integra for the first time. "Oh, finally face-to-face with ze fraulein herself, Sir Integra Hellsing. It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"How could even you sink this low?" The Doctor spoke, addressing the Master, who feigned confusion.

"One question at a time, Doctor! I believe the lady was trying to speak-"

Integra interrupted, showing uncharacteristic impatience. "What's the purpose of this? What are you trying to accomplish? Answer me!"

The pair on the TV set exchanged an amused look. The Master swept his arm from the Major to the screen, indicating his permission to answer for them.

"Ze purpose? What a silly question my beautiful fraulein. Purpose. How quaint…" The Major's sentence trailed off into a cackling giggle.

The camera switched to a view of a sole remaining survivor of the bloody massacre. He was gagged, his wide eyes staring impotently at the crowd of vampire soldiers around him, their pointed fangs on display. Hung over his Colonel's uniform was a sign reading 'Zum Henker. Defaetist!'

The Master took up the thread of the monologue. "To put it in the simplest possible terms, Miss Hellsing, our purpose… is a total absence of purpose."

The Major continued. "You should be avare, fraulein, zat zere are some people in zis world- certain irredeemable louts- for whom ze means does not require an end."

The Master, leaning casually against a wall, held up one gloved hand. "We speak, of course, of ourselves." He snapped his fingers.

The Colonel was eaten alive by the horde of vampires. His muffled screams continued for far too long.

The unseen cameraman spoke calmly as he captured every long second of the event. "Be sure to eat every bite. If he turns into a ghoul, I vill not be happy..."

Most at the table looked away from the grisly scene, but some found themselves unable to, staring in horror. All twelve Round Table members looked distinctly ill.

"Oh wow, I didn't think your decision vould be zat harsh, sir!" Schrodinger looked positively entertained, his childlike joy adding to the sick nature of the scene playing out on the TV screen.

Enrico Maxwell spoke for the first time, unimpressed and impassive, addressing the men on the screen. "You're insane. Both of you."

The Major quirked an eyebrow in amusement. "Did I just hear somevun from Iscariot questioning my sanity? Zen let me ask you: If your God vould allow my madness to flourish across ze globe, zen wouldn't it seem to you zat any God like that would be just as mad as I?"

The Iscariot delegation was struck dumb; simultaneously astonished and enraged by the man's sheer blasphemy.

"We are the finest of ze Third Reich!"

"And I am Gallifrey's most infamous child." The Master spoke up. "Do you have any idea how many people we've killed?"

"I'm insane? Vhat foolishness." The Major continued. "You didn't have any objections fifty years ago… But never mind zat. Try to stop us, then, you self-proclaimed normal people! But unfortunately Iscariot is not our true enemy. Our true enemy is Britain. The Hellsings. Well really, it's those men laughing in the corner back zhere!"

Everyone around the table turned to regard the Doctor and Alucard, who were indeed both laughing uproariously. Alucard recovered first.

"A declaration of war. Excellent! I can't wait to destroy you again!"

The Doctor leveled his gaze at the Master. "How the mighty have fallen. As if joining up with a bunch of assembly-line freaks wasn't pathetic enough, you think they actually stand a chance at winning?"

The Master's smirk seemed plastered in place. The Major spoke. "No matter what you do, ve vill never give up. Ve vill reverse zis ridiculous situation as many times as ve have to."

Integra spoke calmly from the head of the table. "Alucard, Seras, kill him."

Alucard moved faster than the Doctor could see, bringing up a massive handgun from the recesses of his coat and inserting it into the Warrant Officer's mouth as he opened it to speak.

"No! Wait!" the Doctor yelled.

"Wha-"

The youth's head simply exploded from the impact and detonation of the explosive mercury-tipped round. His still twitching body lay flat on its back on the marble floor, nothing but a red-gray mess above the lower jaw.

The Doctor ran to the body as the Major spoke again. "Fine. Shoot the messenger if zis is vhat you've come to."

The Master added his final message. "Oh, and Doctor? I'll be shipping you a gift very soon, though I don't have too much faith in its carrier. I think you'll agree it represents a considerable advance in engineering."

"_Auf wiedersehen mein fraulein_. I look forward to meeting you across ze battlefield."

The Doctor whirled around at the sound of two more heavy-calibre gunshots, this time coming from Alucard's vampire companion. She held an anti-tank rifle in her hands as if it weighed nothing. The TV set had been completely obliterated by it. She breathed heavily, clearly terrified out of her mind.

Rounding on Alucard, the Doctor shouted at him. "He could have talked! You didn't need to kill him!"

"If I killed him, then where's his body?"

Turning, the Doctor saw that the body, along with every drop of blood, had disappeared from the floor. Quickly scanning the area with the sonic revealed some… shocking irregularities.

_A self-sealing dimensional tear, and I only __just__ caught it closing. This is more than teleportation…_

Putting the device away, he walked to the table and picked up a shattered fragment of the television's casing.

"Even so, we just lost our only way of tracking them down."

Yvonne Hartman cleared her throat quietly and spoke for the first time in the meeting.

"I get the feeling that they may be coming to us, Doctor."

Integra nodded. "Agreed. I think we'd all appreciate your insight into this other character, Doctor. You called him 'master'?"

All eyes were now on the Doctor. Even Alucard seemed content to listen quietly. After hesitating for a moment, staring at the shard in his hand, the Doctor flung it away into a corner of the room and put his hands in the pockets of his coat.

Looking grimly to Yvonne, he spoke. "If you read as many of UNIT's classified files as I think, you've already got a pretty good idea who he is."

Lifting his eyes to the rest of the table, he continued. "The Master is just what he calls himself. He's a Time Lord, like me, but twisted. We've clashed many times over the centuries. Whether it's to punish me or simply for his own amusement, he's clearly supporting Millennium. And that makes them more dangerous than ever."

Integra didn't pause before responding. "The important question is, Doctor; can you keep your nemesis at bay while we deal with the vampires? He's an unknown variable."

"And I'm your unknown variable, eh?" Integra nodded curtly. The Doctor ran his hand through his hair, sighing. "I'll do what I can to stop him, but with no way to trace him or the Major we'll have to wait to act until they make the first move. And I'm sorry. I'm so sorry… But that means there'll be more blood before this is over."

"You'll find Hellsing is more than experienced when it comes to dealing with blood, Doctor."

The Queen spoke from her throne, having remained silent through the exchange. "Alucard. Sir Hellsing. Doctor."

The three turned to face the throne, Integra rising from her seat to do so.

"Destroy them. You have your orders."

* * *

**Author's Notes: Well, I guess that went about as well as could be expected. o.0**

**Time paradoxes are tricky. The Doctor meeting Yvonne out of sequence is only the first major change to the timeline that this crossover story will entail. I suppose this story technically creates an AU (J.J. Abrams style) that this Doctor will inhabit, despite him having memories of a twenty-first century where Millennium did ****not**** attack London.**

**Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey.**

**As I mentioned last chapter, the Doctor met Alucard back when he was still human.**

**Liz 10's line from ****_The Beast Below_**** (2010) mentioning "tea and scones with Liz 2" confirms that the Doctor has met this particular British monarch before.**


	4. Ch 4: Opening Moves

**Chapter 4: Opening Moves**

Four sets of footsteps tapped along the metal hallway. The Major walked in front, flanked by the Master on his right and Dok on his left. The Captain walked immediately behind his commander. The bulk of the massive airship surrounded the men invisibly as they walked along the dim passage toward the bridge.

The Doktor spoke first. "At last Major, we have our audience's undivided attention."

"Doktor, Captain, Master… Once I start my dance, I dance to the bitter end."

"Enjoy it to the fullest, Major." Dok replied.

"Hear, hear." The Master agreed.

The doors at the end of the hall opened with a series of resounding mechanical noises. The bridge beyond was massive, a sunken ring of consoles surrounded a huge assembly area with the Nazi crest standing out proudly from the floor. The walls were a dizzying array of screens which showed maps from all over the world, the current status and movements of Millennium's global network of operatives standing out in black against gold.

The bridge crew saluted the Major as one. The luxurious leather command chair at the end of the room lowered itself from its position high atop an elevating steel pillar, whirring mechanically as it revealed its occupant.

"You're so slow! In the time it took you to walk down one little hallway, I went all the way to London, got my head blown off, and made it back. Perhaps you should start thinking about going on a diet, _mein_ Major."

The Major chuckled at the boy's antics. The Master favoured him with a half smile, appreciating the joke.

"No, I couldn't do that…"

The Doktor, however, was less amused. Wrenching the boy out of his seat, he growled at him angrily.

"Show some respect, Warrant Officer Schrodinger!"

Suspended from the scruff of his neck, Schrodinger looked more cat-like than ever, bending knees and elbows to pull his limbs toward himself.

"It's alright Doktor, my Warrant Officer has succeeded in his mission."

Schrodinger smirked as the Doktor scowled.

Seating himself with obvious relish on the plush leather armchair, the Major sighed quietly; finally where he was meant to be. Seeing no seat for himself, the Master stood slightly to the side of the Major, positioning himself to see whatever the Major could see on the screens.

The great vessel hummed to life around them as the massive hangar doors opened above the airship and the crew spurred the engines to start.

"_Deus ex Machina_, now launch!" the zeppelin's commander barked.

The enormous red and black airship slowly rose above the treetops, four times the size of the smaller zeppelins flanking it.

"This is a message from the commander of the Last Battalion to all ships: We are headed for the heart of England, to once again dominate the skies of London!"

The Major spoke, his fellow officers gathered around him. "Send up the beacon! Our signal fire of defiance, announcing our grand return to this mortal world."

On the screens surrounding the bridge, a black cross-shape travelled ever-closer to its destination; a lone, unsuspecting aircraft carrier in the English Channel.

* * *

"We keep killing them and they just keep coming back. You have to at least give them credit for their persistence." Walter mused.

Alucard's cell in the dungeons below Hellsing manor was spacious and adequately lit, but it was still a cell in a dungeon. The walls were damp and the room was bitterly cold. Alucard, Walter, and the Doctor had retreated here after their return from the Round Table meeting.

Alucard spoke, occupying the only piece of furniture in the room; a high-backed wooden throne. "Let them return as many times as they please, we'll just keep killing them. It's that simple."

The Doctor spoke warningly, wrapped in his long coat against the chill. "Careful, now. The Master, The Major, you, me; none of us are exactly what you'd call 'normal'. Faces returning from the past can surprise you." The Doctor looked directly into the vampire's shining red eyes. "As you did me, Count."

The two regarded each other for a tense moment, the air between them thick with unspoken history and unanswered questions. Breaking the silent staring contest, Walter interjected.

"It seems like none of us are exactly strangers. How is it that you two met?"

Alucard and the Doctor both glanced at Walter before uncomfortably breaking their concentration entirely, regarding a section of wall or floor instead.

"It's a story for another time. Suffice it to say, we met when we were both… different men." The Doctor responded haltingly.

Alucard spoke up cheerfully. "At least it's not just the two of us at one time anymore. Nice to have a couple of new pieces on the board."

"Actually, I've been meaning to ask you." Walter queried.

"Yes?"

"Why did you turn Seras into a vampire? It just seems so out of character. You understand my concerns."

"It wasn't my decision. It was hers. Have you met her family yet?" Alucard idly played with his shed sunglasses with one hand.

"No. She's orphaned."

"Of course she is." Alucard slid his glasses into place. They shone unnaturally, reflecting what little light there was back into the room like two blood-red suns setting. "Beneath that girlish exterior lies a fascinating and complicated creature. Abandoned to a town of death. Her co-workers transformed into hungry mocking visages of evil. A sadistic vampire hunting her down with the intention to rape and kill her."

Alucard rose from his seat, growing more and more animated as he spoke.

"It was as close to hell as any mortal could imagine. And what does she do? What fate does she choose?"

Alucard clapped his white gloved hands together and then spread them like a magician performing a trick.

"Giving up is what kills people. Those who refuse to give up are entitled their time to trample upon the weak!"

Walter chuckled, both at Alucard's antics, and the disturbed look now present on the Doctor's face. "So now you're just waiting for her to drink blood, is that right?"

"All in good time. She'll drink. Eventually, she'll drink."

The heavy wooden door to the room creaked open, Integra's slim silhouette stood in the now-open doorway.

"We've lost contact with the aircraft carrier _Eagle_. We're assuming its Millennium."

* * *

Captain Jack Harkness had been a Time Traveller for much of his extraordinarily long life, and had been through every anomaly, loop, or distortion anyone could care to name. But there was one temporal phenomenon that defied explanation or classification that he, even now, stood in awe of.

Why did the clock run so damn slowly when you're bored?

Jack glanced over the array of clocks present in the British Security Special Command Centre to find, to his despair, that only twenty-three minutes had passed since he had entered the room.

The room was circular; the table in the centre occupied by a number of high-ranking British military officers. There was an upper mezzanine level that ringed the room. The walls were made up of computer consoles and communications equipment. Technicians and engineers from every branch of the British military scurried to and fro around the room, relaying every bit of inconsequential information to their superiors that came through the headsets of the seated communication officers.

Jack had practically been kidnapped from the Hub and strong-armed into a late-night helicopter ride from Cardiff to London. Alex and the team could handle things without him, he was sure, but this was damn insulting.

_Dragged out here by one cast-iron bitch just to impress another…_

He hadn't even been briefed on the situation; Yvonne had just ordered him to stand behind her chair and keep quiet.

_It wouldn't be the first time a boss of mine used me for arm candy. If only something would actually happen-_

Then the doors to the room swung open, and Jack couldn't believe his eyes.

* * *

The Doctor numbly walked across the room to his seat next to Integra. He was simultaneously trying to look and not look at Jack's face.

_This is wrong. Our timelines are out of sync! I last saw him after the destruction of the Crucible, and he last saw me… Oh dear._

Jack glared across the table at the Doctor, barely able to restrain himself from leaping at the man- to do what, he was not sure.

Admiral Penwood began to speak now that Integra, Walter, and the Doctor had arrived. He seemed unaware of the awkward tension in the room between the two men.

"We lost contact with the aircraft carrier _Eagle_ eighteen hours ago. She's currently anchored approximately three-hundred kilometres off the coast. We've confirmed she's flying their colours."

An aide provided a stack of printed satellite photographs for Integra and the Doctor's perusal. Yvonne studied her own copies. Jack started as he looked over her shoulder and recognized the twisted shape of the swastika.

"Millennium." Integra stated simply.

"That's why we called you. The situation aboard the _Eagle_ has grown far outside the Royal Navy's jurisdiction."

"What's the status?"

The Admiral, now clearly at a loss for details, nodded to his assistant, who picked up the thread of exposition.

"Sir, as the Admiral said, we've lost contact. The Eagle has ignored all emergency hails. However, satellite photos have revealed not only the, er- Nazi emblem… but the presence of a lone individual on deck holding a parasol."

The Doctor, who was holding the photo in question, turned it towards Integra with a look of honest confusion.

"Huh." Integra exclaimed, perplexed.

"Two SAS platoons are currently approaching the _Eagle_ via helicopter in order to assess the situation, and hopefully bring this to a resolution." The Admiral's assistant concluded.

The Doctor and Integra looked up in alarm, regarding each other for a moment before turning back to Admiral Penwood.

"Admiral, those men are defenceless against what's out there." The Doctor said.

"Cancel the operation and order them to return immediately." Integra ordered quickly.

Before the admiral could respond, there was a shout from one of the headset-wearing technicians ringing the room.

"Both helicopters have been shot down!"

No longer able to contain himself, the Doctor jumped up from his seat and ran towards the man, almost vaulting over the railing to get to him. Jack followed suit, abandoning his place behind Yvonne as he burned with curiosity and the rising concern which had begun when he first saw the swastika on the _Eagle_'s flight deck.

"Did the _Eagle_ open fire on them?!" Penwood's assistant demanded as Jack and the Doctor furiously scanned the screens, crowding the harried communications officer.

"No sir… someone fired at them from the deck… they reported a single musket shot!"

"That's ridiculous!" Jack barked.

The officer looked from one grim face to another before returning his gaze to his console, shaken.

"I- I'm getting confirmation."

Integra let out a deep breath, heavy with cigar smoke, and rose from her seat, making ready to leave.

"What will you do, Sir Integra?" Penwood asked humbly.

"We're under direct orders from Her Royal Highness. We've determined this incident to be the work of vampires and will be assuming jurisdiction."

She continued, speaking over the shocked murmurs from around the table.

"There you are, Sir Penwood. Anything to add?"

Brooding deeply, the Admiral's expression gradually changed from fear to grim determination. He knew that Sir Integra was the best- No, the only person for the job. Meeting Yvonne Hartman's gaze for a moment, he saw the same expression on her face; and the tacit, unemotional approval in her eyes.

"No, ma'am. Good hunting, Sir Integra. I'm handing over control of this operation to the Hellsing Organization."

"Good." Integra smiled genuinely around her cigar. Walter chuckled lightly as he followed her out of the room. As the Doctor made to follow them, Jack looked pleadingly at Yvonne, who continued to weigh options in her mind.

She was keenly aware of how she had been unable to add anything of value during the meeting. It had been dominated by Integra from start to finish. Yvonne also knew that Torchwood had no real right to be here. The Master was an extraterrestrial presence, but the only times he had been foiled in the past by humans was due to UNIT; who's only real advantage was that they had had the Doctor on their side.

Now it was Hellsing who had the Doctor. Now was not a time for personal feelings or jealously. Now was the time for Yvonne to think of the greater good: To do her duty.

_For Queen and country_.

"Captain Harkness." She said clearly, rising from her chair.

"For the duration of this operation, I am attaching you to the Hellsing Organization. Your previous experience with the Doctor may prove useful in defending us against this threat. I will remain behind with Admiral Penwood to offer what support I can."

Jack smiled and saluted Yvonne sharply. He then followed the Hellsing delegation out of the room, running to catch up.

Yvonne slumped back into her chair, suddenly very tired. She and Sir Penwood sighed in unison.

* * *

"You abandoned me."

"There isn't time for this."

"Better start explaining quickly, then."

"Jack, I can't."

"I want answers, Doctor-"

"I can't give them to you, Jack!"

The two were walking a distance behind Integra and Walter, who broke off their own conversation momentarily to glance behind them in alarm at the Doctor's shout.

Jack remained silent for a moment, still burning with questions and accusations, but empathic enough to recognize the Doctor's very real stress.

"Our timelines are out of sync, Jack. From my point of view, we've already reunited, but for you that doesn't happen for another eight years." The Doctor's tone was panicked. "We shouldn't even have met. We certainly can't work together now-"

The Doctor was stopped in his downward spiral by a hand on his shoulder.

"Doctor." Jack spoke seriously. "Screw the timelines. They'll sort themselves out. They always do. I've waited a hundred and thirty years for answers… I can wait eight more. Let's save Britain, and then we'll talk."

The Doctor shared Jack's careful smile.

"It's good to have you back, Captain."

"It's good to be back, Doctor."

The pair continued their march along the dark hallway, Integra and Walter still talking up ahead.

"So, what's the situation?" Jack asked, rubbing his hands together briskly.

"The Master; a renegade Time Lord. He's allied with a group of Nazi vampires named Millennium who've declared war on the entire world. Now it seems they've captured an aircraft carrier."

Jack blew air out of his cheeks, his brow furrowed.

"Tricky." He said, delivering the understatement of the century.

"And even though, for you, this is technically the past, there's no guarantee that we'll win." Jack continued.

"Exactly, time is in flux. If Millennium gets their way, Earth just won't get a twentieth century."

The two had now caught up to Walter and Integra, who had stopped in their tracks.

"No." Integra was responding to Walter. "They still won't fool those damn magic bullets."

Integra's shadow lengthened, its form distorting and changing. Claws and spines seemed to grow from the edges of its two-dimensional shape as crimson eyes and writhing centipedes filled its 'body'. There was a glimmer of hellfire deep within the horror's form now and it emitted a red aura from its edges. An occult seal whirled into place in the shadows centre, and a white-gloved hand formed around it. Extending into three dimensions now, Alucard stood up, his body still coalescing and taking solid shape as he spoke. The Doctor had to grab Jack's arm to stop him reaching for his revolver as his eyes went wide with fear.

"So what you're saying is, against their stockpiles of missiles and magic bullets, your only hope is to find a way to get me onto the flight-deck of that ship. Isn't that right?"

The Doctor spoke up, entirely ignorant of the fact that he had held the solution to what Walter and Integra had spent the last several frustrating minutes discussing the entire time.

"If it's a ride you need… I may be able to help you with that."

He grinned broadly in the face of the trio's exasperated stares.

* * *

The Master walked through the _Deus ex Machina_'s hallways. Every soldier he encountered stood aside to let him pass. He wasn't sure whether it was orders from the Major or the simple, intimidating fact that the two were clearly working together as equals.

Either way, it was to his liking. Soon the Doctor's favourite Earth city would feel the full force of Millennium's wrath, and his own plan would ensure that the Doctor would be powerless to stop it.

"You look happy, Void-Man." Spoke a young boy's voice from beside him.

The small, private smile dropped from the Master's face. Sure enough, the cat-boy was now walking beside him, grinning up at him innocently.

_Though technically, he's always beside me._ He thought with annoyance.

"Not now, though." Schrodinger said, his ears drooping slightly. "Why? Don't you like me? I was the one who saved you… sort of."

The Master stopped, finally turning to look at the un-child.

"It's not that I dislike you… exactly." The boy's face brightened slightly as the Master searched for words. "I don't know what to make of you. You were created almost sixty years ago, Warrant Officer Schrodinger… And as such there are only two possible rationales for why you act the way you do."

"What's wrong with how I act?" Schrodinger asked, the picture of innocence.

The Master held up a hand for him to be quiet. The engine noises of the zeppelin hummed around the pair as they stood alone in the hallway, staring at each other.

"One possibility is that you were designed to have the mind of a child for your entire immortal existence; never growing, maturing, or changing for all time from the carefree nature built into you."

Schrodinger remained silent.

"The other possibility is that you possess the kind of mind that a being of your age would have; with all of the worldliness, intelligence, and maturity of someone who has lived as long as you have. If this second possibility is true, it would mean that you choose to act this way, hiding your true, far more calculating nature."

The Master let the simple, terrifying statement hang in the silence between them.

"I don't know which possibility is true, but I know which one concerns me more." he said.

After a short pause Schrodinger opened his mouth to reply, but just then a soldier came walking around a nearby corner, his jackboots thudding against the metal deck. By the time the Master returned his gaze to where the Warrant Officer had been standing, he was gone.

* * *

**Author's Notes: Schrodinger freaks the Master out. Frankly, he freaks me out, too...**

**The 'Alex' that Jack refers to is Alex Hopkins, Torchwood 3 administrator, who will, on New Year's Eve, 1999, inexplicably go insane and kill the entire Torchwood 3 team, leaving Jack in charge as seen in ****_Fragments_**** (2008).**


	5. Ch 5: Jenseits von Gut und Böse

**Chapter 5: Jenseits von Gut und Böse**

Seven people were crowded around Integra's broom closet, staring at the strange blue box inside it. Integra, Walter, Alucard, Jack, and the Doctor had just returned to Hellsing Manor. Integra had phoned ahead with instructions for Seras and Pip to meet them in her office for a final briefing. Alucard had a full-sized black coffin strapped to his back.

The group from the Command Centre had swept into the room quickly, crossing the room speedily as the Frenchman and the vampire joined them. All were now simply looking at the TARDIS as the Doctor moved to open the doors.

Jack did a double take at the sight of Pip and Seras. Effortlessly switching on the Harkness charm, he crossed his arms over each other and reached out to them in a double handshake.

"I don't think we've met. Captain Jack Harkness-"

"Stop it!" The Doctor cut him off from the TARDIS doors. It didn't seem like they were opening.

"Can't I say hello?" Jack asked, annoyed.

"Captain Pip Bernadotte, monsieur. Nice to meet you." The mercenary introduced himself friendlily.

"Um… Seras Victoria. I'm not a captain or anything." The blonde woman blushed slightly. Her bashful demeanour was at striking odds with the heavy anti-tank rifle slung across her back.

"_Ceres victoria_?" The Doctor asked, pronouncing the words strangely. "That's quite an interesting name."

He then pulled once again on the TARDIS doors, which failed to budge. Growling in annoyance, he produced his Sonic Screwdriver and began to run it along the seam.

"I don't understand it. The TARDIS has locked the doors from the inside. It should recognize that there's no threat and open them for me…"

The Doctor's voice trailed off as he turned, looking grimly at the six others in the room, finally settling his gaze on Alucard, who was staring at the TARDIS windows. The vampire's expression was difficult to read. There were traces of confusion, surprise, and annoyance on his face. He remained absolutely focused on the TARDIS as he spoke.

"She is refusing to let me in."

"She?" Seras asked.

"Not too surprising…" The Doctor muttered. "The TARDISes would remember the First Great Time War."

Alucard raised a finger to his lips, quietly shushing the Doctor. The room was silent for a time as the Vampire and the TARDIS stared each other down. Finally, Alucard raised his arm and presented the seal on the back of his white glove. The light emitting from inside the TARDIS glowed brighter briefly, seeming to focus on the layered pentagrams and occult seals. It could have been a trick of the light, but the design on Alucard's hand seemed to glow crimson in response.

The TARDIS doors swung smoothly open.

"What the hell-" Jack broke the silence.

"Time for questions later, Jack!" The Doctor interrupted. "They'll need you, Integra, and Walter back at the Command Centre. I've got to get Alucard to that ship before Millennium can put the next phase of their plan into action."

The Time Lord swept briskly into the TARDIS, shedding his coat and attending to the console. Alucard, still carrying his coffin, stalked smoothly inside after him like a wraith, not hesitating as he crossed the threshold. The doors closed after him without a sound.

"He's right." Integra said. "You two stay here." Pip and Seras straightened slightly as she indicated them. "Defend the mansion as ordered. We're going back into the city."

Jack paused for a moment before following Integra and Walter, watching as the TARDIS pulsed and dematerialized; the groaning, creaking wheeze of its departure building in the air.

_Good luck, Doctor._

* * *

The Doctor paced busily around the hexagonal console of the TARDIS as the time rotor began to move.

"Welcome aboard the TARDIS, Count. Time and Relative Dimension in Space, before you ask. Just one rule for this trip: Don't touch anything." His tone was clipped and serious. He was attempting to hide the stress he was feeling by acting preoccupied. "This'll just be a quick jaunt out to the Channel; shouldn't take long… Oh! And one more thing:"

The Doctor leaned around the central column to peer at Alucard, who had barely walked into the TARDIS far enough to allow the doors to close. He was looking around the control room curiously.

"Yes. It is bigger on the inside."

There was a pregnant pause as the TARDIS sped through the vortex to its destination.

"She wouldn't allow me inside until she could verify the strength of my Control Art Restriction System." Alucard said evenly.

"How does the TARDIS know more about your abilities than I do?" The Doctor asked, leaning over the console tiredly. His voice was almost inaudible.

"Are you afraid, Time Lord?"

"I'm in the dark." The Doctor's voice did not waver. He still would not meet Alucard's eyes. "There are too many unknowns. The Master… Millennium… You. I'm almost certain that right now I'm blindly walking into an obvious trap, but… I have to do something. There's no time for the two of us to ask each other what we want to ask, or for me to get the information I need. I'm worried that this time… I'm going to be too late."

"Answers will come, Doctor, that I promise you. And I don't think you're too late at all."

The Doctor looked at Alucard curiously as a fierce grin spread over the vampire's face.

"You're not too late to stop a battle; you're just in time to fight one! That's what has you vexed, Doctor. That excitement you feel deep inside as you take the plunge into unknown darkness is the very thing that drives you forward! You hear it now, as I do, as the Major does, and as I am certain the Master does: The call to war!"

_The drumbeat… _The Doctor thought numbly. _Rassilon's rallying cry from the centre of the greatest war in history… Some variation of it must be heard by all the monsters of the universe; echoing across all creation, through every battle, slaughter, atrocity and genocide past and future… but do __I__ hear it?_

The Doctor's thoughts were cut short as the TARDIS landed with a resounding thud.

Forcing himself to snap out of the fugue, the Time Lord donned his coat and inquired lightly of Alucard.

"All that aside, do you have a plan for keeping an entire crew of Waffen-SS vampires busy while I search the ship?"

Alucard chuckled deeply.

"Well, Doctor, to put it simply…"

The vampire king grinned.

"I'm bigger on the inside."

* * *

Rip van Winkle tightened her grip around her rifle. Fear pulsed through her body, shaking her concentration with every heartbeat. She was surrounded by her minions; dozens of Millennium's finest, who had every weapon in their possession pointed at the blue box that had materialized in the middle of the flight deck.

The Major's words still echoing in her head, she swallowed, fruitlessly attempting to calm herself as the doors smoothly swung open.

_Do you __know__ how Der Freischutz ends?_

There was only darkness within. A thick, almost textured darkness that filled the inside of the box.

_Prepare yourself, First Lieutenant; for now Samiel comes to collect you…_

Eyes-

* * *

The Doctor ran headlong across the flight-deck as all hell broke loose behind him. The Multi-limbed horror that Alucard had- unfolded into had charged the massed ranks of vampires with shocking speed. Undamaged by their bullets and grenades, the burning shadow tentacles he had unleashed tore into them without mercy. They were still fighting even now as a portion of Alucard's monstrous body engulfed the 'island', tearing apart the _Eagle_'s air-traffic control sections and massacring the bridge crew.

Dashing to a nearby hatch, the Doctor dodged gunfire and vampires alike. The deck was rocking with explosions and ringing with unearthly screeches and howls while Alucard slaughtered the terrified Nazis.

The Doctor dived below-decks as a grenade exploded nearby, tearing another chunk out of the ruined flight deck. He struggled to close the hatch as flames roared across the carrier. The aviation fuel had finally ignited, turning the ship into a blazing beacon in the middle of the dark ocean. The heavy steel door finally sealed, muffling the sounds of carnage above him, but also leaving him in total darkness.

Before his eyes could fully adjust, an obnoxious fluorescent light blazed into life from down the gloomy hallway. It was a rectangle of light from a familiar looking miniature television screen. Approaching slowly, he saw that it was held by the same dimension-jumping cat-boy that had appeared at the Round Table conference.

The boy smiled sweetly at the Doctor's confused expression, and raised the faintly buzzing CRT device so that the screen was positioned directly in front of his young face.

The Master appeared on the screen, his head seeming to emerge weirdly from the boy's shoulders.

"Welcome aboard the _Adler_, Doctor. I'm so glad you got my message."

* * *

"WHAT IN THE HELL ARE YOU-" The corporal screamed, his submachine gun blazing in the midst of the swirling hellfire. His shout was cut off by a tendril of darkness punching right through him, rendering his upper body into bloody pulp.

* * *

"_I'll be shipping you a gift very soon, though I don't have too much faith in its carrier. I think you'll agree it represents a considerable advance in engineering._" The Doctor quoted. "Your wordplay gets more obvious every time we meet."

The Doctor then left Schrodinger behind, glancing at a nearby structural map that was lit by the glow of the screen. He memorized the route to engineering instantly and set off down the dark hallway. He was mildly surprised that Schrodinger made no effort to follow him.

Turning a corner, he once again stopped in his tracks. The cat-boy stood at the end of the dark hall once again, still holding the screen.

"So what's the plan here, Doctor?"

Walking past the boy and the television without a glance, the Doctor spoke tersely. "Get to engineering and find whatever it is you want me to find. Just like Millennium's takeover of this ship, it's not something I can just ignore."

The Doctor changed his route in an attempt to shake off his pursuer, but Schrodinger continued to materialize wherever he turned. Through him, the Master's voice was omnipresent as the Doctor made his way through the bowels of the carrier.

The Master was laughing now. "Not… what I meant. Do you have any idea of what's going on up there?"

* * *

The tinny, buzzing ring of the alarm clock stopped suddenly as Alucard crushed it underfoot. Rip started as she crouched behind cover, surrounded by the remains of her soldiers. She could only stare, her jaw agape, as the grim spectre stood before her. The fires of hell were in the folds of his coat, and the crimson light of death glowed from his inhuman eyes.

_Prepare yourself, First Lieutenant. What will you do in the presence of Samiel?_

_What will-_

"-you do… Rip van Winkle?" Her memory of the Major's words blended into Alucard's voice as he spoke. The other side of the coin.

Composing herself and wiping away her tears, Rip stood, finding reserves of bravery. She pointed her musket at Alucard, her expression stern.

"Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor-" Rip psyched herself up, reminding herself who she was. The man before her was nothing! "My bullet punishes all, without distinction!"

* * *

"Two enemies squaring off, about to settle everything in a one-on-one duel? Vampire versus vampire? Seriously? You saw what Alucard did to those soldiers, Doctor. You caught a glimpse of his true nature."

"He's holding off that marksman until I can get to engineering. Those soldiers would have killed me if he hadn't intervened."

"And now they're all dead."

"They were mindless monsters!" The Doctor all-but shouted as he unconsciously quickened his pace through the ship. He attempted to suppress the memory of their final screams. They had sounded very human then.

"But what does that make Alucard? What does that make you for working with him?" The devil on his shoulder continued to speak.

"You're working with vampires too, in case you hadn't noticed."

The Master cackled.

"Yes, I'm working with vampires, Doctor." His tone became menacing. "Vampires and worse… So much worse. But you're supposed to be better than me, remember? Or are we not playing that game anymore?"

"It's different. He is different. Alucard defends humanity. Like I do. The Major just craves destruction."

"And you think Alucard doesn't? He loved every second of what he did to those soldiers… And he'll love every second of what he's about to do to the First Lieutenant."

* * *

Rip was once again frozen with fear. Alucard had caught her unavoidable musket ball with his teeth, casually crushing it. He stalked toward her now. Inexorable. Unapproachable. Unbeatable.

This was never a battle. It was play.

* * *

"Alucard's motives are no different than the Major's, Doctor. He just follows rules to ensure that the battles keep coming. As long as humanity survives he'll have an endless supply of fights to entertain him as he wars against the monsters trying to devour them."

"It's not my concern why he fights for the people of this planet. If his victims are all soulless genocidal maniacs like your pals in Millennium, why would I complain?"

"You honestly have no problems with his methods, Doctor?" The Master asked, feigning honest surprise. "You never struck me as an 'ends justify the means' kind of man… No, that was always more my style… maybe you're finally starting to see my way of thinking."

* * *

Alucard pinned the bloodied Nazi up against the bulkhead. He slowly, excruciatingly drove the barrel of her rifle into her chest, impaling his victim. Blood flowed freely from her mouth. She was unable even to scream now.

Dozens of limbs extended from under Alucard's coat, holding Rip in place while he lapped up pint after pint of her blood from the deck below.

* * *

"So a few bloodthirsty monsters die in indescribable physical and spiritual agony… Better than innocent humans going that way, right Doctor?"

"Of course. That's the choice you and your kind force on me every day."

"So you assign values? You play God?"

"I have no CHOICE!" The Doctor finally ceased his trek through the ship, rounding on the TV screen to bellow at the Master. Schrodinger flinched in the presence of his sudden rage.

"No choice but to choose." The Doctor deflated. "I'm the only one who can."

There was silence for a time. The dull roar of the fire on the deck was the only sound. The engines were dead, likely crippled by the effects of the battle above.

"_He shall be the greatest who can be the most solitary, the most concealed, the most divergent, the man beyond good and evil, the master of his virtues, and of super-abundance of will; precisely __this__ shall be called greatness._" The Master quoted. His voice was sombre. "Very good, Doctor. But just as it is your will to protect humanity, it is my will to confound you at every turn."

On the screen, the Master produced his laser screwdriver from his pocket. He touched the control surface and the tip glowed briefly.

Back on the flight-deck, a tiny device buried within the TARDIS doors activated in response to the signal.

It had lurked there since the Master had converted the TARDIS into his paradox machine. It was the lone piece of technology that the Doctor had missed during the rebuilding process.

It had been hidden specifically as an emergency measure, in case the Master lost control of the Doctor's TARDIS.

It deadlocked the TARDIS doors, sealing them off from the inside.

"You and Alucard aren't going anywhere." The Master explained matter-of-factly. "We will burn London to the ground as you watch helplessly from afar. Then, I will take your TARDIS from you once again, and lead this army of nightmares across the cosmos."

The Doctor went white, running back along the passage the way he had come, speechless with panic.

"Can't you hear it Doctor?" The Master yelled after him. "Hear my drumbeat? My call to war?!"

* * *

"Well done, First Lieutenant!"

The Major was speaking from Schrodinger's TV now as the warrant officer sat among the broken deck-plates and smoking ruins of the once-proud warship. Rip was beyond hearing anything he said.

"The operation was a success! No matter how many stones you cast upon the water's surface, no matter how many times you stomp your boots upon the creeping shadows… they will never submit to your will."

The commanding officers of Millennium were assembled on the _Deus ex Machina_'s bridge, along with whatever soldiers weren't engaged in essential duties. All of them were watching the live feed of Rip van Winkle's death as Alucard devoured the last of her essence. The Master had just joined them, returning from the room he had been broadcasting from.

"That is the river… of death. Life and death, when viewed with the proper perspective, are really just one big hoax! Immortal, invincible, undefeated, and almighty- It is ludicrous! But we can cast light upon the shadows… we can, and will, find the tide changing. Through your sacrifice, we will bring Alucard and the Doctor to submission.

Dok opened up a small metal case he was holding, preparing to activate Rip's self-destruct and burn away all traces of her.

"Wait!" The Major held up a hand.

"Let's not be too hasty with our options, Doktor. She fulfilled her mission. Absolutely perfectly." He smiled grimly. "She deserves a hunter's death."

"How… generous, Major." Dok said dubiously. The others in the room continued to stare with fascination at the predator feasting on his kill.

The Major rose from his chair, raising his arm in salute.

"Achtung! Auf weidersehen. I will see you in Valhalla… first lieutenant."

Zorin grinned slightly in amusement.

"Auf wiedersehen." She said.

The soldiers present stood to attention, repeating the same phrase.

_Until we meet again._ Thought the Master, translating the words properly.

"Auf wiedersehen, Frau Winkle!" Schrodinger simultaneously called from the _Eagle_'s deck and the _Deus ex Machina_'s bridge, chuckling briefly.

As one, the soldiers in the assembly area raised their right arms in the Nazi salute.

"SIEG HEIL!" They bellowed.

_Hail Victory._ The Master continued to translate. It was certainly a bizarre image seeing them all salute the screen in that way now that Rip had been completely devoured. All that was displayed now was Alucard; a blazing tower of darkness and hellfire.

He realized with a jolt what had actually just transpired. It was Alucard they were saluting. His victory. The glory of his battle.

The Master nodded in appreciation. "Sieg heil, indeed." He said quietly.

The vampire's body had now coalesced back into his usual near-human form. Grinning with sheer pleasure, he was shaken from within by helpless laughter, which finally burst out of him in a torrent as he clutched Rip's musket in his hand. He laughed long and loud as the Major continued to coolly observe him.

"Are you having fun, Alucard? War should be fun, after all. So sing the battle hymn, Alucard, and watch as my works unfold. I can see it. I can see it even through thick spectacles… The city's lights, its Hawkmoor Steeples… Hear my battle hymn, Alucard, and watch the collapse of the British Empire…"

Alucard's laughter seemed to double in intensity as the Doctor ran out onto the flight-deck and began scrabbling at the doors of his TARDIS, trying his key and sonic screwdriver to no avail. Pounding on the doors fruitlessly out of an impotent rage, the Doctor looked up at the sound of distant engines. The silhouettes of three massive zeppelins were outlined against the full moon, coloured blood-red by an eclipse. They were passing almost immediately overhead, on a direct course… for London.

* * *

**Author's Notes: The next chapter will be a quick interlude before we move on to the next part of the story. **

**I did consider including the Major's speech in this fic, but realized it would just be me transcribing it word for word. We've all watched Hellsing. We all know the awesome. We all know that I could never hope to improve on it.**


	6. Interlude 1: Charles Calthrop

**Interlude 1: Charles Calthrop**

"And who the hell are you supposed to be?"

Alucard was talking in his sleep again. His eyes were open, and he was standing, but the vampire was definitely asleep.

"This is ridiculous. I'm going to leave now." He spoke again.

_If only we could._ The Doctor thought.

He was sitting on the edge of the flight-deck with his feet dangling over the edge, a few metres away from Alucard, having finally returned from engineering. The carrier's engines were broken beyond repair.

_Repair with a sonic screwdriver, anyways…_

"Really?"

His travel companion's sarcastic tone seemed to respond to his unspoken thought perfectly. Alucard had been in this strange trance state since he had finally calmed down from his earlier outburst. The Doctor was uncomfortably reminded of the habits of a great cat: A beast that only fed at long intervals and in large amounts, needing to sleep off a big meal.

"Look; isn't that General DeGaulle up there?"

Then again, in some ways it was more like a food-poisoning induced fever dream.

"Stop it." Alucard growled, apparently growing annoyed with what he was experiencing.

The Doctor had been wracking his brain for a solution for the last hour, and was no closer to getting them back to England. The seal on the TARDIS doors seemed completely impenetrable.

"Stop it!" shouted Alucard, startling the Doctor from his reverie.

_It might be wiser to stay away from him until he's past this._

He started to walk away along the ruined, fire-blackened flight deck of the smoking hulk formerly known as HMS _Eagle_.

"Who are you?" Alucard's tone was softer now, almost exasperated.

"I'm too late." The Doctor said softly, almost under his breath. "And I've lived too long."

"That makes no sense." Alucard said angrily.

Stopping, the Doctor turned, yelling back at the delirious vampire.

"When you've quite finished being stark raving mad, you can come and find me in engineering, trying to get us out of this!"

Alucard turned slowly, swaying back and forth as he focused his crazed eyes on a point somewhere behind the Doctor, looking right through the Time Lord as he spoke without moving his lips, his mouth fixed in a lopsided, drunken grin. His voice was almost subsonic and rattled the carrier's deck as it echoed spookily across the space between the two men.

"**Then good luck to you.**"

The Doctor raised his hand to his face, covering it with his palm in exasperation.

_This may be more difficult than I thought._


	7. Ch 6: Broken English

**Chapter 6: Broken English**

"And thus the Seelöwe shall cross the ocean and climb atop the hill."

* * *

Alarms blared from every console in the Command Centre simultaneously. Maps and readouts disappeared from the screen one at a time as the grim legend 'Contact Lost' appeared everywhere. The technicians were babbling over one another with shock as they attempted to regain contact with someone, with anyone who could tell them what was happening.

"Oh no-"

"Dear God-"

"Good Lord…"

"Sir!" One of the orderlies finally called to Sir Penwood. "Our communication feed to Vauxhall Cross has just been cut off!"

_That's MI6 out._ Jack thought worriedly, not speaking aloud so that the information could continue to come through clearly. _So Millennium had agents in place already…_

"The SIS is offline." Another reported.

"It's what?!" The admiral asked, astonished, turning in his seat.

Yvonne produced a mobile phone from her pocket and began to dial. Jack, seated next to her, recognized it as the direct emergency line to Torchwood Tower in Canary Wharf.

"We've also lost contact with London BTN Control." A third communications officer interjected. "Civilian communication networks across the city are apparently also offline."

"Sir, we've lost contact with Ark Air Force Base!"

"No response from the Atlantic fleet." A naval attaché said. "Or from fleet command!"

As the reports continued to flood in with no signs of stopping, the true terror of the situation slowly began to dawn on the Command Centre's personnel. To say that Millennium had people everywhere was a statement without hyperbole. The Command Centre was blinded, deafened, and gagged. London, and the entire United Kingdom, had just been rendered completely powerless by a meticulous and simultaneous series of terror attacks.

A young technician spoke next. He was hunched over a glowing display of a map of the British Isles.

"We've had no word from Defence Intelligence headquarters. All lines are down."

A final voice cut through the background chatter. "Admiral, we've received civilian reports of a fleet of dirigibles moving north over Newhaven!

Integra's eyes narrowed imperceptibly. Yvonne, dread appearing prominently on her face, put down the mobile, having received no answer.

"They're on a direct course for London!"

"Dirigibles? A fleet of airships?" Admiral Penwood thought aloud, taking refuge in stubborn denial, sweat standing out on his brow. "Impossible! They can't really be trying to go to war with us!"

"We're past that." Integra said quietly.

"Sir Integra?"

"The enemy… is at the gates."

* * *

In the skies of southern England, the zeppelins appeared. Their engines roared; a dull droning that shook walls and rattled windows as they passed by barely two hundred metres overhead. Young children were awakened from their sleep and people, normal people everywhere rushed to their windows to see. The airships passed over the south coast quickly, outlined against the starlight, making no effort to hide their floodlit forms or the proud swastikas standing out on their fins.

Within the ship the vampires cheered, ecstatic with excitement and from their leader's speech. Their mixed, excited cries were heard from the ground by the uncomprehending humans who had no idea of the ruinous destruction the whale-like shapes held within them.

Watching from the windows, the soldiers of Millennium hooted and shouted as the land swept past beneath them. Their vampiric eyes let them look ahead, far ahead to their shining destination which grew closer by the second. Fifty years of hard work were about to pay off!

"Faster!" They called. "Faster!"

"Schneller!"

"Schneller!"

"We see the spires of London!"

"Charge the city!"

"Schneller!"

Their shouts remained unintelligible and foreign to the English civilians below. The streets of the towns and villages they passed over were abuzz with conversation, but the one man who knew the import of what he saw remained coldly silent. The bespectacled, grey-coated priest stared angrily up at the airships as they disappeared north. He and those with him quietly doubled their pace.

London was still wide awake, of course. The night had barely begun, and the warm lights of the shops in the high street burned merrily as people walked to and fro about their business.

Donna Noble stormed out of the restaurant, a sour expression on her face. Another blind date had just ended in disaster.

_That's it! That's the last time I let __Mum__ set me up!_

This last episode had set a new record in terms of briefness. Their meals hadn't even arrived before Donna had decided she'd had enough. Looking around for an Underground station, she set off down the street.

A thirteen-year-old Martha Jones left the restaurant a moment later, along with her older sister Tish and younger brother Leo. Their parents were just a few steps behind, arguing fiercely but quietly about the bill. The family was dressed nicely, but the attempt to have a normal night out had just produced more tension between Clive and Francine. Pretending not to hear them, Martha reached into her purse, drawing out the earphones of her walkman and letting the CD play as the five travelled to their car. The distance at which it was parked soon turned into another topic for argument.

Approaching the six from the other direction was Rose Tyler and her mother, Jackie. They were in the city to shop for a present for one of Rose's friends in Year Nine. Rose was not happy about this arrangement because she was, of course, a teenage girl, and therefore embarrassed to even admit she had a mother. She was distracted from the unfairness of her life by a strange sight in the night sky above.

Not noticing as Rose stopped and stared, her mother continued for a few paces before she noticed her daughter's fixation.

"Rose? What is it?"

"The moon…" Rose said quietly, mystified by what she was seeing.

Other people around London stopped what they were doing as the unearthly sight emerged, silhouetted dramatically against the bright light of the full moon. Others did not take notice until the drone of the zeppelins' engines became too loud too ignore. Martha was the last person on the street to sense that something was wrong. Tish yanked her sister's headphones from her ears, muting her protestations with a pointed finger, indicating the three enormous zeppelins now passing almost directly overhead, slowing to a stop over the centre of the city.

_Is it some kind of airshow?_ Donna wondered, standing silently as confused murmurs swept across the city.

Onboard the _Deus ex Machina_ The Major stood before his chair, flanked by the Master and his subordinates.

"Soldiers of the Last Batallion, Achtung!"

The massed infantry dutifully snapped to full attention.

"Gentlemen, night has fallen! Tonight, my invincible warriors of Millennium- Tonight all our promises bear fruit! Welcome to the eve of war!"

_Lovely woman._ The master thought to himself idly as the troops raised a mighty cheer, shaking their weapons in exultation.

Even Dok chuckled to himself in the presence of such high spirits, a sick grin present on his face. Zorin, too, was smiling around her ever-present cigarette. Schrodinger's face bore the same look of boyish excitement as it had for the whole journey. The Master found the good mood contagious, letting himself be swept up in the eagerness of these monsters to spill blood… to dominate and destroy.

Only the Captain remained impassive. Silent and expressionless as ever, there was no sense of… anything from his intimidating and monolithic presence.

"Alright everyone, it's time to open up our handbooks." Dok said, with the air of a proctor about to commence an examination.

Sure enough, all soldiers present, including the officers around the Major, produced identical paper pamphlets.

The Master rolled his eyes, not caring if Dok saw. He had been offered a handbook himself, but had declined. Not very politely, either. The Major had made the plan clear to him, and the Master had no wish to buy into Dok's annoying fantasies of control.

He could appreciate a meticulous plan to be sure, as well as a healthy amount of attention to detail… But this seemed slightly ridiculous.

_This is likely a direct result of how much time Dok has had on his hands these last fifty years. I might have gone a little stir-crazy, too…_

"We'll start on page three." Dok continued. "'Operation Sea-Lion: British Invasion 2'. Please note the information under the bullet point 'London Explodes! A Great Battle of Vampires!'"

_…or maybe a lot stir-crazy._

Meanwhile, Schrodinger was patting himself down frantically, searching himself in a panic, and clearly not finding what he was looking for.

"Oh dear." Dok groaned. "What is the problem this time, Herr Schrodinger?"

Schrodinger froze, nervously standing to attention.

"Doktor, I'm sorry… I seem to have- misplaced my handbook."

"Oh…" sighed Dok. "Such trouble. What to do with you? Go share with the Captain for now."

At these words, Schrodinger brightened instantly, blinking over to the Captain's side in a fraction of a second. The white-haired man dutifully lowered his pamphlet to a level where the Warrant Officer could read it too. His red eyes then glared over at the Master, as if daring him to ask to share the handbook too.

Frowning and shaking his head clear of the weirdness he had just witnessed, the Master began paying attention again as the Major summoned Lieutenant Zorin Blitz forward.

"Ready for orders." She said, casually resting her scythe on her shoulder.

"Our primary targets are the Hellsing Organization, the vampire Alucard, and the Time Lord known as The Doctor. The men under your command will be the vanguard unit. Take your zeppelin and make your way to Hellsing headquarters."

"Yes, sir."

"Please avoid a direct assault for now. I will arrive with the main force post-haste."

As a soldier who had waited fifty-five years for some real action, this was the last thing Zorin wanted to hear.

"I don't know why you would even bother, sir." She complained. "Without Alucard the Hellsing forces are as weak as children."

The Major's chuckle was filled with genuine mirth. But the slow shake of his head he gave while he laughed was deadly serious. It was actually the coldest gesture that the Master had ever seen him express.

"Integra Hellsing and Seras Victoria are not to be trifled with."

Even the Major's tone seemed more serious. The Master listened intently; what followed was intel he had not heard before.

"Sir Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing; scion of the famed Dr. Van Helsing, and the head of the greatest family of vampire hunters in history. And, she is the only authority the vampire Alucard recognises… Then there is the policewoman; the vampire Seras Victoria. She is perhaps, a miracle… perhaps, you might think, something of a joke…" The Major giggled quietly. "I suspect that she herself may not fully understand her nature yet. It certainly makes it exciting though, don't you think?" Laughter bubbled from the Major as he finished, unable to contain himself at the prospect of such an exhilarating unknown. "They are both inexperienced, imperfect, and untested. I would therefore argue that, like Alucard, they are arch-enemies worthy of caution and scrutiny. And that is why you shall hold without engaging."

"Do you understand your orders, Zorin?"

"They are crystal clear, Battalion Commander." Zorin replied, doing the smart thing and agreeing, though her tone was still rebellious.

Not seeming to notice, the Major continued his assignation of orders.

"Perfect! Then everything is set. It is time for us to open the floodgates of war! Our first target shall be the City of London." The Major sat, laughing through his words as he spoke. "The West Bank of the Thames, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Ten Downing Street, the Ministry of Defence, Buckingham Palace, Scotland Yard, Westminster Abbey, Piccadilly Circus, Soho, The City, Southwark- Burn it to the ground!" The map of London displayed behind the Major lit up his targets as he talked, his voice creeping up in pitch as he named each landmark, running through them faster and faster. "Burn St. Paul's! Burn the central government!"

"Major," Dok asked, playing along. "What about the Cabinet War Rooms?"

"Blow them up!" The Major replied dismissively. "They're awful. Don't leave the slightest hint that they ever existed.

"What shall we do about Trafalgar Square, Major?" A bespectacled officer asked as he picked up on the Major's game.

"Destroy it!" The Major responded with excitement. "Topple Nelson's column! The Tower of London, the British Museum, the British Library, destroy them all…" His round glasses flashed in the light of the bridge's manifold screens. "…they're repulsive!"

"And Tower Bridge?" An anonymous soldier asked tentatively.

"Topple it! London Bridge as well, like the song!"

"How about Torchwood Tower, Major?" The Master asked with relish, completely buying into the twisted pep-talk's heady atmosphere.

"Bring it crashing down! Their secrets can't save them now!"

"And what about the Imperial War Museum?" Another soldier asked, smirking.

"Blow. It. Up." The Major enunciated carefully. "Go forth and destroy everything that you see, devour everyone you meet. Feast and imbibe to your heart's content. This mighty capital of eight million souls is nothing but our supper!"

The Major rose once more from his chair as a low-ranking soldier approached with two glasses of Champagne on a silver tray. The Master and the Major each took one as the Major continued his speech.

"Come, Gentlemen, it's time for us to kill and be killed! To give and receive death! Now, let us toast the occasion," the pair raised their glasses. "for tonight is a feast the likes of which has never been seen before."

All along the sides of the three Millennium zeppelins, panels opened, leaving a good amount of the framework within exposed, as well as revealing hundreds of small devices. They looked like small monoplane aircraft. A small jet engine was mounted above the fuselage, however, and there was no room for any pilot. These were V1s. Flying bombs. Their design had been modified and upgraded over the decades to possess the accuracy and pack the punch necessary to level a city. Tonight, they would once again rain death on London.

Rose, Martha, and Donna felt the same chill run down their spines as everyone else in the street when he massive doors creaked open above them. For Martha it was strangely familiar… For some reason she was thinking of Japan.

Snickering, the Major raised his glass higher in salute as the V1s engaged their engines, the Master copying his gesture.

The V1 engines roared to life.

"Prosit!" The two of them shouted.

"PROSIT!" their troops bellowed back.

The Master and the Major turned toward each other, bringing their glasses together with a resounding shattering sound as the two collided. Drops of champagne and shards of crystal went flying in every direction between the two men in a chaotic waterfall of dancing wreckage.

The pulsejets took over as the first wave of flying bombs were launched by catapult. Immediately taking up different courses, they fanned out from the three zeppelins eerily. Their grey smoke trails looked like dark, creeping tentacles extending over the city.

Before there could be any real reaction from the crowds below, the first bomb scored a direct hit on Big Ben clock tower, destroying its upper reaches in a blazing fireball and sending debris plummeting to the streets below. A wave of destruction followed, more fireballs the size of city blocks blooming across the city, consuming people, infrastructure, buildings, and vehicles, striking a hammer-blow to the London's very essence. The thunder of the first explosions soon gave way to screams. These, in turn, were cut off by the next waves of the never-ending barrage. The airships carpeted the city with death. Fire and mayhem followed the crowds of fleeing people before finally consuming them.

"I want more…" The Major kept saying, viewing the destruction on the monitors before him as the Waffen-SS prepared to drop.

"All retrofitted V1s have been fired. The blow has crippled the infrastructure!" The _Deus ex Machina_'s commander raved over the inter-ship radio. "They are crippled! Crippled!"

"Not enough…" The Master growled, a wolfish grin on his face as he oversaw the capital's evisceration from the Major's side.

"More!" The Major ordered. "We demand MORE! Harvest the fruits of battle!"

Black arrows slithered across the map behind Millennium's commanders, plotting the planned routes taken by their soldiers, who now dropped, parachute-free, from the zeppelins onto London's burning ruin.

Dinner time.

* * *

The double doors were kicked open professionally. That is to say, violently and suddenly. A dozen soldiers from the Royal Military Police stormed into the room, taking up positions around the room, assault rifles cradled under their arms.

"What is the meaning of this?" Sir Penwood demanded as the rifle barrels swivelled to point at him and everyone else around the central table. Integra and Yvonne remained impassive as a pair of soldiers flanked each of them. Yvonne gestured slightly to Captain Jack, who was squaring off against his own pair of MPs. At the signal, he relaxed slightly; keeping his hand near his revolver all the same.

Several of the Command Centre's uniformed administrative staff now stepped forward. One drew a pistol and aimed it at Integra, grinning in triumph.

"Please no sudden moves, Sir Integra." He turned to Sir Penwood in the face of her icy stare. "As of now this facility is under the control of Millennium."

"Enough! What is going on?!" Penwood demanded, rising slightly from his chair.

"Shut up!" The officer shouted. "What is going on, Sir Penwood, is a very good day for vampires." His eyes flashed red, his smile broadening to reveal the shark-like points of his teeth. A few of the traitorous MPs laughed thuggishly, their eyes now also reflecting scarlet in the Command Centre's gloom.

"…A very good day indeed, considering I've just captured the great Sir Integra."

Integra chuckled softly around her cigar.

"What's so funny?" The artificial vampire demanded, once again bringing his handgun to bear on Integra.

"Why, the whole thing, of course. Really you're the vampire equivalent of newborns. We, on the other hand, are the institution of your annihilation. Frogs parading in front of a viper. Of course it's funny."

"I'm not scared of you!" The traitor replied, attempting to steady the aim of his pistol.

Undeterred, Integra continued. "I hope you can claim your iron cross from your corporal… in hell."

"Shut up!" The vampire only had time to slightly tighten his finger on the trigger before his arm muscles suddenly and involuntarily slackened. Blood then fountained from an area just below his elbow as the lower part of his right arm detached in a spray of crimson, falling to the carpet with a wet thud.

Integra chuckled again briefly as he screamed with rage.

"Walter… clean up."

"As you wish, Sir Integra." Walter said calmly, pacing forwards. No one had seen him disappear into the shadows when the soldiers had entered. No one notices a good servant doing his job. "Now then, it's time to take these children across my knee…"

"Die!" The traitorous MPs opened fire on Walter, but their bullets were all sliced into smaller fragments and easily deflected by a nigh-invisible web of monofilament Walter had spun in front of himself and Integra. A single twitch of one finger was all that it took for the complex network of killing wire to sweep across the room like a supernaturally-selective guillotine blade, chopping heads from shoulders all over the Command Centre.

Taking advantage of the vampires' distraction, Jack stood up sharply as he drew his webley service revolver, moving with the shocking speed and practised ease of a man who has used such a quick-draw many times in the past. Six silver bullets sped toward their targets as Jack whirled and spun, bringing his left hand down on the hammer with every shot so that the gun rapid-fired. Each bullet hit its mark, wiping out half the room in less than a second.

Sweeping his arm grandly like a conductor in front of his orchestra, Walter's filament bisected another group of MPs. Another two waves of his hands were enough to clear the room of the vampire menace. Severed heads and limbs lay everywhere across the floor, and blood had sprayed onto Sir Penwood's face.

"That all?" Walter asked, adjusting the fit of one of his gloves, looking slightly bored.

"Kids today, eh Walter?" Jack said with a cocky grin as he reloaded.

The remaining staff of the command centre exchanged horrified looks, most of them still frozen with fear where they stood,

"Bloody traitors." Integra said.

"They got what they deserved." Yvonne pronounced, trying to remain impassive in the face of the gory scene around her.

"I see that the ammunition Sir Integra provided works well." Yvonne continued, addressing Jack.

Jack snapped the revolver closed again. "Silver bullets. It still sounds ridiculous, but…" he panned his gaze over the bodies around him. "…I'm a believer."

"Are you alright Sir Penwood?" Integra asked the near-catatonic Admiral. "You know, up until now," she said, leaning forward breezily as she spoke. "I had been convinced that you were the traitor in our midst."

Sir Penwood produced a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his face clean, the fear disappearing from his eyes as he realized what good hands his life was in.

"I may be powerless against them, but I'm certainly not a coward."

The room shook violently, reminding the Command Centre's staff of their jobs. Attempting to bring up whatever information he could, the orderlies began to report in.

"Sir, the city is under siege!"

"No word from the chiefs of staff!"

"We've lost contact with over one hundred and fifty military installations and command centres across the Commonwealth. It is possible they are currently engaging the enemy forces."

"It'll be the same everywhere." Integra said with finality.

Jack knew she was right. Millennium's network was global. Their main force was attacking London, but low-level artificial vampires like the ones he and Walter had just dealt with would be staging assaults everywhere. Normal humans couldn't hold a candle to these monsters' strength, and exceptional individuals like Walter and himself would be spread very thin. The situation had been perfectly constructed by Millennium to achieve its main objective: the isolation of London. They were on their own.

"This facility is sure to be on their list of targets." Integra continued, rising from her chair. "We should be gone before they arrive. It's time to leave."

There was a tense silence for a moment. Yvonne and Sir Penwood shared a look, but were interrupted before they could speak by another report coming in.

"There are Nazi soldiers dropping from the airships. It's the Waffen-SS!"

"It can't be…" Another officer quietly thought aloud, unable to accept the ludicrousness of the deadly situation.

"Sir Penwood! Sir Hartman! It's time." Integra said firmly, slamming her hands down on the table. "This building is about to be overrun by an army of vampires!" Integra did not know how she could make the situation clearer.

"Sir Integra," the Admiral replied. "You and your man will return to Hellsing headquarters as quickly as is possible."

Yvonne spoke next. "There are duties you are honour-bound to perform, for Queen and country."

"Go, and see to your sworn obligations."

"We must stay and perform ours."

"This place can no longer function as a command centre." Integra explained carefully. "Do you have a death wish?"

"It's still possible for us to re-establish communications, and we may be able to issue orders again." Sir Penwood countered. "We will need to establish a chain of command with whatever bases are still fighting off the invasion."

Sir Penwood's hands, which were clasped in front of him, tightened their grip as fear clouded his expression. His voice remained steady, however.

"I am the commanding officer here. This is my facility… I cannot abandon my post."

"Torchwood Tower has no doubt fallen." Yvonne said wearily. "I would be deadweight anywhere but here. Sir Penwood is right. We must attempt to maintain the chain of command for as long as possible to give the people fighting across Britain a chance."

"I know that I'm not a strong man." Sir Penwood continued, knowing that this would likely be his final speech. "I've always been nervous. Even I'm not entirely sure how a man like me ended up in such a position of authority… No… that's not true. I was born with a title and money. My authority was expected, and my position handed to me by obligation. So, given that, the least I can do is perform the responsibilities I've been handed."

"Now, off with you Sir Integra. There are evils moving against us only you-"

"-only Hellsing-" Yvonne corrected.

"-can face."

Integra wordlessly produced a pistol from her coat and slid it across the table to Yvonne and Penwood. "It's loaded with blessed, atomized silver-tipped rounds. You should find them more effective than ordinary lead."

Smiling genuinely now, Integra continued. "Sir Penwood, Sir Hartman; best of luck… and good hunting."

"Thank you…" Yvonne replied, she and Penwood now smiling back, years of unspoken history between the three of them. "…and good hunting, Sir Integra."

"All staff prepare for evacuation." Penwood ordered. "Only essential personnel will stay behind."

"On second thought," he said musingly, "in truth, I suppose… we're capable of operating the emergency systems ourselves."

Nodding grimly in agreement, Yvonne spoke commandingly to the officers present.

"All of you, get out of here! Quickly!"

The military men around the room regarded each other for a moment, appearing confused, before the room erupted with low, polite laughter.

"That's enough! What's so funny?" Sir Penwood demanded.

"I gave an order! Evacuate!" Yvonne commanded again.

The laughter surged again before ending. One of the now-smiling officers stepped forward to speak.

"I'll try and establish contact with National Defence again, sirs." He turned to speak to one of the console operators. "Start looking for a line!"

"Gather weapons and ammunition," another ordered, "let's form a garrison, quickly!"

"Hey- Wait!" Sir Penwood said, turning to and fro in his chair as activity picked up. Yvonne smiled sadly as she realized what was happening.

"Start setting up barricades at the entrances-"

"We told you idiots! You don't have to be here anymore!" Sir Penwood yelled, standing up from his seat.

"There's no need for hysterics sir." One of the orderlies said calmingly. "Everyone knows you two have no idea how the consoles operate.

"Please, sir, just take your normal seat." Another spoke with a small smile. "Otherwise you'll just get in the way."

Understanding at last, Penwood returned to his chair, overcome with emotion.

"Thank you, gentlemen." Yvonne said softly, humbled at last by overwhelming gratitude.

"Carry on."

The men in the Command Centre scattered to their stations, the room abuzz with activity once again.

"We're going to need runners! Even if the lines are down, we're going to get through!"

"-Then try contacting the foreign branches. We need data!"

Quietly slipping away, Integra walked toward the exit amidst the bustle. Walter followed her like a shadow.

Yvonne caught Jack's eye and crooked her head toward the two. It was all the indication Jack needed. Standing to attention, he saluted Yvonne one last time.

"Ma'am."

He then joined Integra and Walter as they paced along the outer hallway, leaving the Command Centre to its preparations.

_Love this planet_.

"We're leaving, gentlemen." Integra said. "As quickly as possible."

"As you say, ma'am." Walter acknowledged.

"We'll take the car. Will that be a problem?"

"Not in the slightest."

"Nothing is going to get in my way." Integra spoke grimly, the fates of the men and women she had left behind in the Command Centre weighing heavily on her mind. "As head of the Hellsing family, I swear it."


	8. Ch 7: Explosions, Car-Chases, and-

**Chapter 7: Explosions, Car-Chases, and The Catholic Church**

The fires burned across the city, but were more intense where incendiary explosives had been specially and artfully deployed to brand a blazing swastika across the centre of London. Everywhere survivors ran, fleeing and screaming in terror from the demons who dropped from the sky or emerged from the flames around them. Trench-coated Stahlhelm-wearing demons who had come to kill. And kill they did. They chopped heads with their entrenchment tools. They made their victims dance for long, grotesque seconds after their deaths by pouring on rounds with their sub-machine guns, making it a game to see who could keep their quarry upright the longest. Crowds were decimated by swarms of grenades, body parts littering the bloodstained pavement. The Nazis swarmed across the rooftops as London burned around them, the flames and clouds of smoke hiding even the light of the stars from the ruined city. All the while, the airships continued their slow circuit, sending out more and more V1s whenever a relatively-undamaged target presented itself.

The Master dined with the Major, taking in the view as the pair feasted.

In the streets, bayonets were thrown as the vampires began to get creative. Necks and hearts were speared, and blood poured into the gutters as merlot poured into the two wineglasses.

The Master speared his steak with his knife and fork as Londoners were impaled on rifles now bereft of ammunition.

Cutting and biting, slicing and drinking, the foot-soldiers and their commanders ate well.

The corpses of men, women and children like began to rise from the ground onto which they had fallen. They moaned weirdly as unholy force animated them to stalk through the night in search of prey. Ghouls rose everywhere from the vampires' leavings, multiplying the number of predators who walked the streets. The devoured in turn became the devourers.

Behind a makeshift barricade of rubble and ruined cars, four metropolitan police officers made their last stand, using what guns they could find and firing into the advancing horde of ghouls. Three civilians cowered in the middle of their formation.

"Damn it!" One officer kept growling as his rounds did nothing to the shambling undead. Not even headshots slowed them down. As he ducked behind cover to search for more ammunition, he was interrupted by a German-accented voice from above.

"Little girls lost in ze sea of flame..."

The policemen and the civilians they were protecting looked up in alarm, Rose and Martha quietly gasping in shock. Donna pulled them closer to her as the vampire came into view.

"Look around you. It's Hell come to Earth!" The Millennium soldier taunted as he walked casually down the side of a nearby building. "But it's still only a pale shadow of ze world to come!"

Dropping to the ground, the Nazi was met with a hail of bullets as the policemen all opened fire. He smiled at the multiple hits like an adult would smile at a child attempting to fight him. The SS soldier lazily raised his sub-machine gun and sprayed his enemies with automatic fire.

Planting a final bullet in one officer's skull to deny him even the chance of coming back as a ghoul to serve Millennium, the vampire chuckled deeply as he approached the terrified women.

He was stopped by the sudden reports of a semi-automatic weapon. His body took the hits heavily; he staggered back as the holy bullets buried in his unholy body tore him apart from the inside out, blowing his immortal form to bloody bits in an eruption of gore.

Sir Integra discarded her rifle and opened the door of her Rolls-Royce before sliding across the backseat.

"Get in!" Jack shouted, leaning awkwardly across Walter from the front passenger's seat.

The Rolls sped away into the night, three passengers heavier. Another vampire soldier watched as the car's taillights disappeared into the distance as he spoke into the headset he wore, attached to the antiquated and oversized back-mounted radio he carried.

"Integra Hellsing sighted." His eyes were glowing with an eerie red light in the gloom. "She is travelling at high speed down Regent Street towards Hellsing Manor. Capture her… Capture her!"

"Who the hell are you people?!" Donna asked hysterically. The two teenagers with her were still speechless, their eyes flickering around the car as they tried desperately to look anywhere but the body-littered streets they were speeding through. All three bore scraped and bruises. Their clothes were torn, and they were covered with soot and dirt.

"What the hell are those things?!"

Jack twisted awkwardly in his seat to respond, struck speechless for a moment when he recognized Rose Tyler. Regaining his composure, he replied.

"We're-"

He decided to go the simple route.

"-with the government."

Walter smiled despite himself at the absurdity of the situation.

"And those things…" Jack continued. "Well, they're exactly what they look like."

"I'm Jack. This is Integra and Walter." He introduced each of them, dropping Sir Integra's title for the sake of brevity. "Don't worry, we're taking you somewhere safe."

_That's a lie, but for the moment, Hellsing Manor is safer than the streets, and we can at least keep an eye on them there._

"Donna." The redhead said. "This is Rose and Martha. They lost track of their families when the world exploded."

The radio began to squelch as Donna finished talking, an incoming transmission breaking through the low-level static. Integra leaned forward over the front seats to adjust the dial.

"Attention all soldiers… Attention all soldiers… -tention anyone. This is Vice-Admiral Penwood speaking, from the British Security Special Command Centre… I don't know if there's even anyone left to receive this message. This facility will soon fall. The monsters are almost upon us, and through the last of our defences. I now deliver the final orders from this facility. To whomever is listening to this transmission: Keep fighting. Do your duty."

* * *

The barricade of desks and tables shuddered under another blow. The lights had failed some time ago, and Yvonne Hartman and Sir Penwood sat in near-total gloom. Everyone else in the Command Centre had already taken their own life rather than be subjected to the tortures of the monsters outside. It was just the two of them left.

Penwood gripped the detonation switch tightly in his shuddering hand. A headset sat loosely around his neck as he stared at the shining red button on the control. He glanced briefly at the gun still lying on the table between the two of them before laughing softly to himself.

Yvonne picked up the pistol and efficiently loaded the magazine. She pointed it at the door, as lost in memory as Penwood was, here in their final moments.

She remembered when she had first heard of the Doctor. It was ten years ago when Yvonne was a young intern working at Torchwood One's former location. She was reviewing some UNIT files about the recent Nemesis Comet incident when his name had come up. Yvonne had been enchanted instantly with the charismatic alien, and her interest had only increased when she had heard of his role in the founding of Torchwood. All plans to capture him, to exploit his knowledge, or to neutralize him as a threat fell away as her life ticked toward its conclusion. Where Penwood placed his hopes in Integra, she placed hers in the Doctor. The Doctor would save the world. She had done her part. Done her duty.

The barricade exploded as the final RPG shattered the flimsy wooden barrier. Soldiers once again swarmed into the Command Centre, led by a towering, bespectacled SS officer who stalked into the room, long-coat hanging from his shoulders.

"You put up quite a fight…" He said, drawing his Mauser from his coat "…you fat blood-sacks."

Penwood and Yvonne laughed openly at the vampire, their shoulders shaking in mirth.

"You think this is funny, do you?" The officer asked, wondering if the humans' fragile minds had snapped. "Pathetic."

"Pathetic are we?" Penwood asked. "This coming from an undead maggot- 'Course it's bloody funny!"

Looking around, the Nazi soldiers suddenly noticed the C4 stuck to the walls. There were enough explosives present to level the building twice over.

"Farewell, Integra Hellsing." Penwood said aloud, placing his thumb over the firing switch. "It was an honour… and a privilege."

"The same to you Doctor." Yvonne whispered, closing her eyes. "Wherever you are."

"No! Put down ze svitch!" The vampire raised his gun to shoot, but was stopped as two silver bullets from Yvonne's gun ripped through his arm.

The other soldiers in the room fired in response, spraying Yvonne with bullets. Despite taking hits all over her body, she refused to go down. Leaning heavily on the table, she coughed blood and grinned in triumph as Penwood thumbed the switch.

"We do not take orders… from swine like you!"

* * *

Only static remained on the radio. A new column of smoke drifted into the night sky far behind the speeding Rolls Royce.

"Who were they?" Martha asked.

Jack only replied after a long, silent moment had passed.

"They were heroes, Martha."

"Walter?" Integra asked, her voice cold.

"Yes, Sir Integra?"

"FASTER!"

Walter gunned the accelerator, taking corners at more and more dangerous speeds. There was a moment when Jack thought they were done for as a large pack of ghouls blocked the street ahead. Walter had just smoothly manoeuvred with the ease of a professional stunt driver, only hitting one of their number before continuing on. And Jack felt that that may have been intentional.

The car shot through the night for a time before a sight on the road ahead caused the two men in front to start in shock.

"Walter-"

"I see it!"

Yanking the steering wheel to the side, Walter brought the Rolls to an abrupt stop; the tires screeching to a halt on the pavement.

"What is it?" Integra asked, extricating herself from the cramped pile in the backseat.

Jack and Walter stared levelly down the street. Past a certain point the road disappeared into a column of fire. But it was not at this that they stared. Walter's face became grim and a chill ran down Jack's spine as they viewed their true obstacle.

"Sir Integra, please take the wheel of the car and find another way across town." Walter spoke calmly, not wanting to alarm Donna and the girls.

"What are you doing?"

Walter opened the driver's side door and got out of the car.

"Take the car and go." Walter's voice was strained, now. There was tension evident in how he carried himself. "As fast as you can. Do not try to find me, and no matter what, do not look back."

"Walter-" Integra stopped speaking as she saw what he and Jack had seen coming from farther off; the dark silhouette of a tall, long-coated man walking steadily toward the car.

"The way I am now, I don't know how long I'll be capable of holding out against him."

Jack got out of the Rolls next as Integra got into the driver's seat.

"Well then, maybe I should lend a hand." Jack said.

It was impossible to read the expression on Walter's face.

"Alright ladies, Integra's going to get you out of here. Walter and I will meet up with you later."

The trio could only nod wordlessly, the same dread that Jack felt now creeping into their minds as the figure stalked closer.

"Walter." Integra said. "Live through this. Consider that an order. Understand?"

"If you insist, ma'am." Walter tightened his gloves resignedly.

"The same goes for you, Captain Harkness. I expect you both at the Manor as soon as possible."

"Understood, ma'am." Jack replied, now standing next to Walter. "Good luck."

The car drove away into the night, the two men shrinking in the rear-view mirror. Integra turned a corner and was gone.

* * *

Walter stalked along the street; the full length of his monofilament wrapping and twisting around him like spider-silk, reacting to the most subtle of his movements.

The newcomer's coat billowed similarly in the night breeze as he walked, silhouetted by the full moon and the burning wreckage behind him.

Preparing himself, Walter cocked his arm back, his myriad threads responding to his slight movement.

His opponent never altered his pace. His weapons were now visible, too; a pair of pistols at his belt. They had been modified with rifle-length barrels; their muzzles almost scraped the pavement.

Sending his threads forwards, Walter cast his web of killing wire at his enemy. At the same time, Jack struck from the side alleyway where he had hidden himself, leaping from cover, and drawing his gun almost faster than the eye could follow.

Impossibly, the hulking man reacted to both attacks simultaneously. Jack's gun was batted out of his hand as if his strength was nothing. The former time agent was then caught by the throat and lifted above the road, his feet kicking uselessly. Meanwhile, Walter's filament strands had been seized by the Millennium agent's other gloved hand in another impossible manoeuvre. The threads cut into his hand, drawing blood, but cut no deeper than that. They should have continued on to slice him to ribbons. Jack remained suspended by his neck, his airways choked closed. He beat frantically at the man's arm with his hands, pulling at his grip to no avail.

_His strength is unimaginable_!

"Of course… I knew it was you!" Walter growled.

The Captain remained impassive, despite having singlehandedly captured two of Britain's most potent warriors in the course of a few seconds.

The _Deus ex Machina _quietly dropped into view, hovering just above the rooftops lining the street.

"You are correct… my boy..." The Major's high-pitched voice was being projected over the scene via loudspeaker. Searchlights snapped on, projecting from the zeppelin to illuminate the stalemate below.

"So, butler! It's been what? Fifty-five years? It's nice to know that after all zis time, you still manage to find a way to interrupt me during my dinner!"

"And the freak!" The Master spoke excitedly, his voice echoing off the ruins. "We meet again for the very first time! I'm going to enjoy finally breaking your will."

"The only question is; how many deaths will it take?!"

* * *

The car hit the lamppost with a deafening crunch, bouncing off of the metal, bringing its spin to a halt. The front end was crushed; steam hissing from the engine block. The four women lurched violently in their seats from the impact.

Donna had barely managed to make sure that the girls were all in seatbelts as the chase had intensified. Her vision has now blurred from her head's collision with the seat in front of her. Before she could check if anyone, including herself, had been injured, there was a shout from one of the Nazi vampires chasing them.

Jack had been right. They were exactly what they looked like.

"Integra Hellsing!" An overzealous shoulder leapt at the stopped car, crash-landing on the roof. Raising his bayoneted rifle, he prepared to stab down into the driver's seat. "By ze order of the Battalion Commander, prepare to-"

His words were cut off as suddenly as his head was.

Integra had emerged from the car smoothly, drawing a sword-

_A flippin' __sword__!_

-from her hip and decapitating the man on the roof.

_Also, Helsing?! As in Van Helsing? Is Frankenstein going to show up next?_

Donna's mind reeled. Rose and Martha had a couple of new bruises, but were otherwise alright. She told them to unbuckle themselves, given the very likely possibility they'd need to run.

Rose watched in awe as Integra stared down ranks of machine-gun-wielding soldiers, standing between them and the wrecked car, blood running down her forehead. She didn't look at all afraid. She just looked pissed off.

One of the Nazis chuckled at the spectacular death of his comrade.

"You don't know when to give up, _fraulein_. No matter how much you struggle, your situation is hopeless."

The vampires began to surround Integra and the car, stalking silently with their weapons raised.

"Surrender! This is not your London anymore. This is Midian, where zere is no place for humans to run and hide. Give up!"

Martha was quietly panicking. Those creatures had outrun a speeding car; there was no way they would make it if they ran, and… and that Integra woman was now calmly lighting a cigar.

"Surrender? Run and hide?" She casually rested her left foot on the dead nazi's severed head. "Oh yes… and give up. I should give up…" She exhaled a cloud of rich, eye-stinging smoke. "That is what someone like you would say to do."

_Is she… taunting them?_

"Cowards-"

_Yep._

"-who could not bare the weight of their own humanity. You pathetic monsters disgust me."

She flipped her sword in her hand, favouring her left arm. The right seemed to have been injured in the crash.

"Come on!" She challenged. "Let's have it!"

Laughing once again at her boldness, the lead vampire charged at Integra, striking at her bare-handed with his fingers extended as if he intended to pierce his arm straight through her chest.

_This is it!_ The three women in the car braced themselves to run while Integra tried to buy time.

Several things happened in quick succession.

There was a flash of blue-white light in the sky. Several flashes of the same light descended with lightning speed from above, followed more slowly by a multitude of gently-drifting pages; their surfaces covered in cramped writing in a foreign language.

The vampire grunted; stopping in mid-lunge before he reached Integra. He choked, uncomprehending as the dozen shining sword-bayonets thrust through his body began to glow, causing the wounds they had inflicted to steam and smoke as their magic slowly rent him asunder.

"My body… tearing…" His last words became a strangled scream as he exploded like a burst balloon, painting the walls of the nearby buildings with a mist of blood.

Crouched just behind where he had stood was a man. He rose deliberately as hundreds of pages rained down around him, now standing between Integra and the crowd of vampires, facing the young woman.

Seeing the long coat, Donna had at first thought that the newcomer was Jack coming back to save them. But he was a different man entirely. He was tall and blonde with blue eyes glaring from behind round glasses perched on his nose. His face was hard, with a broad scar on his left cheek. His build was broad and muscular. The man wore a metal crucifix around his neck over the clothes of a priest along with a grey long coat and white gloves.

"It's you!" Integra blurted in shock. "The Iscariot Organization… Section XIII…"

"God's Assassin-" One of the Nazis said, fear in his voice.

"Saint Guillotine-" Another spoke, hands starting to tremble.

"The Regenerator-"

The names continued to be spoken, a rote listing of titles, each voice containing more terrified awe than the last.

"The Angel's Dust-"

The legendary man grinned.

"The Bayonet Priest…"

"…Alexander Anderson." Integra finished.

Leaning forward suddenly, Anderson laughed loudly in Integra's face.

"Facing down the big, scary vampires, sword in hand, bleeding on the street!" Anderson's scotch-accented voice was excited, even giddy.

"'Come on, let's have it'?" He quoted incredulously. "Did you hear that, Heinkel?" He asked, directing his gaze to a nearby rooftop. "How about you, Yumie?"

Two figures crouched on a ledge. One was an androgynous-looking blonde priest, similarly bespectacled. Next to her stood a nun, her long black hair escaping from her wimple, hiding her eyes and flowing freely behind her in the breeze. A katana was strapped to her side.

"No doubt about it…" Anderson continued, still focused entirely on Integra. "This woman… these people… who else could be worthy to be our sworn enemies? Our arch-enemies!"

Heinkel stood and called down to the street below. Her voice carried a German accent. "Father Anderson, I thought our orders were to do nothing more than observe at zis point?"

"And for that matter-" Yumie continued, her lilting Welsh tones echoing off the buildings. "-rescuing the Hellsing woman, sir. That is a serious breach of orders, is it not?"

"What was I supposed to do?" Anderson appealed, his voice still full of good humour. "Just sit back and watch? We will be the ones who will crush them. We are the only ones who deserve to crush them! No-one else may interfere! No one else can have them! Just us! JUST US!" He bellowed the last declaration, working himself into a frenzy.

Heinkel breathed out a cloud of tobacco smoke, looking slightly exasperated.

"So you're with Iscariot?" One of the Nazis finally interrupted. Donna noted that it was one of the few who had not recognised Anderson when he showed up.

_That's probably why he's talking so confidently. But can three crazy priests really stop an army of these guys?_

"You won't stand in our way-"

Anderson's face became grave. "Hold your tongue." He said coldly. "The dead don't speak."

Two more bayonets sprang into his hands, shooting out of his coat-sleeves like a magic trick.

"Do the dead dare walk the Earth before my eyes? Do the undead raise an army, fall in, and advance?" His voice rose into a shout as he finally turned to face the massed vampires. "Do those who have abandoned God and embraced the heretical order dare presume to meet my gaze?!"

The pages that had fallen to the ground now whirled into life once again as the pair on the rooftop simply jumped down to the street below, grinning in anticipation. The pages presence in the air seemed to help slow their fall as they landed without injury beside Anderson.

"Iscariot will not allow it. I will not allow it."

The vampire hunter whirled his blades through the air, forming a cross with the two lengths of blessed steel.

"_You will be cut down like straw, trembling before my wrath_." He quoted. "AMEN!"

There was silence for a time. Neither the undead soldiers nor the humans in the crashed Rolls seemed to quite believe what they were witnessing. Integra smoked her cigar quietly, emanating a bored impatience with the priests' antics.

"Speak up, you men of God. Tell us all who you are!" Anderson continued.

The rooftops erupted with noise, dozens of voices chanting in unison.

"We are the soldiers of Iscariot! We are Judas Iscariot!"

"So, do we run or-" Rose asked tentatively, as the blade-wielding priest continued the recitation.

"You might as well enjoy the show, ladies." Integra said, leaning tiredly against the frame of the car. "Iscariot likes to put on a performance…"

* * *

**Author's Notes: Now of ****course**** I wouldn't introduce Rose, Martha, and Donna as characters only to have them killed in the initial bombardment. That would be stupid.**

**They will not be playing a major role in the fic, however. I mainly needed them as a point of view on the ground, especially now that Jack has been snatched up along with Walter.**

**The Nemesis Comet Incident that Yvonne remembers is a reference to ****_Silver Nemesis_**** (1988), the show's 25th anniversary special. Funnily enough, it involved Neo-Nazis as villains.**

**We're at the story's halfway point now! Next will be another quick interlude before we move on. The pacing will be a little weird in the next ****full**** chapter, as the events at Hellsing Manor play out exactly as they do in the OVAs, meaning there's no reason for me to show them.**


	9. Interlude 2: The Sleeper Awakes

**Interlude 2: The Sleeper Awakes**

"My nemesis…"

Alucard walked along the flight deck of the HMS _Eagle_, passing the TARDIS as he stalked his way to the bow.

"My master…"

His head was finally clearing; he was himself again.

He laughed quietly to himself as the massive hulk began to move. It slowly drew itself through the still ocean, pulled inexorably by the passive magic of Alucard's presence.

"I am being drawn closer…" He moved to the Doctor's side. The time lord was quietly observing the vessel's sudden, smooth progress through the black water, appearing deeply confused and concerned. His expression was as stormy as Alucard's was relaxed.

The vampire addressed him. "And I shall continue the journey I am taking with you as well."

"Onward!" Alucard declared, eagerly extending his arms to the horizon, and to the burning city that lay behind it. "To the battlefield!"


	10. Ch 8: Götterdämmerung

**Chapter 8: Götterdämmerung**

"What happened to make you change?"

The Doctor looked over at Alucard, confused.

"Your face, I mean." The vampire clarified with the hint of a smile.

Realizing that Alucard's words held less deep meaning than he thought, the Doctor marshalled his thoughts and spoke.

"It's a process my people undergo. When our bodies are mortally wounded, instead of dying, we can heal ourselves at the cost of losing our old form. I've done it eleven times by now. Seven since we first met back when you were still alive. Before you hid your true name."

Alucard's brows furrowed as he considered the Doctor's words carefully.

"These other men, they are still… within you?"

"Well…" The Doctor cocked his head to the side thoughtfully. "In a way, I suppose."

The Vampire standing across from him on the scorched, creaking deck proceeded carefully as the pair sailed through the dark.

"Who are your people, Doctor? I take it you're not from this world."

"Correct. My people are- were the Time Lords. I was born on the planet Gallifrey."

"And the Time Lords fought these 'Great Vampires' in ancient times?"

"Yes. The First Great Time War was the result of one man's arrogance. In an attempt to artificially create and harness the power of a black hole, Rassilon, our civilization's leader back then, accidentally opened a rift to another universe. That universe's most advanced inhabitants called themselves the Yssgaroth, and ruled as its overlords. They immediately invaded this reality. It's said that just one could completely drain a world of life. Entire systems were consumed. The Time Lords eventually beat them back and sealed the rift, but the power of the Great Vampires remained in the lesser servants they had created. This power continued to be passed down through blood and spread throughout the cosmos; diluted, but still a threat to life everywhere."

"Were."

"What?"

"You said the Time Lords 'were' your people."

"…there was a war." The memories were still all-too fresh in the Doctor's mind thanks to Rassilon's attempt to break free of the time-lock. "Everyone lost."

"The Master and I are the last of the Time Lords."

"Then the two of you carry your people within yourselves, in addition to the men you used to be." Alucard said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

The Doctor quirked an eyebrow. "Pardon?"

"Blood is the currency of the soul, Doctor. Those who pass from this life do not simply disappear. They remain within those who refuse to give up, those with the will to live on… Those who perish from your actions, even more so."

There was no reply from the Doctor. If only Alucard knew how much blood weighed on his soul: The countless lives that he carried within himself… the burden of it.

A thought occurred.

A terrible, horrifying thought.

"Is that what I saw?" The Doctor could not bring himself look directly at the vampire as he spoke. "When you fought those Nazis?"

Alucard's shark-like grin was unmistakeable.

"Blood is the medium by which life can be transferred. To drink blood is to take the essence of a soul into oneself, Doctor."

The vampire spread his arms wide, presenting himself like a showman.

"If Time Lords are made up of the lives they live, then Vampires are made up of the lives we take! How's that for a parallel universe?!"

The Doctor unconsciously took a step away as Alucard's voice crept up in volume, his mind still racing.

_A parallel universe… An __alternate__ universe… Were the Yssgaroth alternate Time Lords? Another path our race could have taken?_

The ship now forged ahead at a quicker pace, accelerating as Alucard's excitement grew. Turning away from the Doctor, he returned to his survey of the horizon, a faint red glow now visible through the thick fog.

"Hm. That aroma… It's so familiar…"

He breathed in deeply with his eyes half-lidded, inhaling the smoky air, tasting the atmosphere like a snake flicking its tongue.

"The aroma of men being impaled, of women being cut down where they stand, of babies burning to a crisp, of the old being lined up and shot…"

Alucard chuckled with amusement, continuing his grisly poetry. He crossed his arms over his chest with satisfaction.

"The bouquet of death, the smell of war…"

"We're coming for you, Major."

* * *

"So, how many of us remain?"

Anderson, Heinkel, Yumie, and the remaining paladins stood amid the field of vampire corpses. Integra, the car, and those in it had remained untouched through the pitched battle.

"Half of us have fallen." Heinkel replied to Anderson. "Ze Nazis are fierce…"

"Get the thermite!" She barked, reloading her pistols. "Burn zis tainted demon meat! Burn 'em all to ashes!"

Integra, a new cigar hanging unlit from her mouth, stood up straight and began to deliberately pace down the street, away from the paladins.

"Enjoy your fire…" She said coolly.

One of Heinkel's guns was immediately aimed at her head.

"Vere are you going?" Her voice had a hard edge.

"To my mansion, obviously." Integra's condescension made Donna wince. Abandoning the car, she led Martha and Rose toward the suited woman, tired of being ignored.

"My forces are under attack." Integra continued. "As their commanding officer, I need to be there, so lower the gun… Papist."

"I don't think so. You're in Vatican custody now, you left-legger."

The Londoners' view of the exchange of oddball insults was obstructed by Yumie blocking their path.

"Can I help you, my children?" She asked, smiling sweetly. Her hand casually rested on the hilt of her now-sheathed katana.

"You can start by telling us who the hell you people are!"

As Yumie patiently explained Iscariot's origin and purpose, Rose and Martha looked past her in confusion as Integra apparently hypnotized the gun-toting blonde priest into lighting her cigar.

"Now then, I'm going home." Integra declared, cigar now smouldering brightly. "I'll be taking these survivors with me." She indicated Donna and the two teens. "If the thought of it vexes you, go ahead and shoot."

Heinkel, meanwhile, was having a minor panic attack, drawing Yumie's attention away from the trio.

"Why can't I deal with her?" She hissed. "She's just one woman, what ze hell?"

"Hey, how about we tie them up and take them away with us?" Yumie proposed, apparently forgetting that the people she wanted to kidnap were standing right behind her. "That would work!"

"I vanna shoot her!" Heinkel griped.

"We can hear you!" Donna pointed out, more aggravated than scared by the pair's antics.

"They want to either tie us up or shoot me." Integra mused. "What is it that you want, Anderson?"

"What do you think?" Anderson spoke from immediately behind the three Londoners, making them jump. Shadow cloaked his face as light reflected creepily from his round glasses.

"Teaming up against an unarmed woman to do God-knows-what to her? We're Paladins, not rapists."

Donna was pleased to note that Heinkel and Yumie had been struck as speechless as everyone else was at that statement.

"I'm glad we're of one mind." Integra continued, seemingly oblivious to the madness of the people she was talking with.

_Or is she just used to it?_

Donna shuddered to think of the kind of patience required to manage a group of super-powered freaks like these.

"-But we really shouldn't walk home alone." She admitted, setting off again.

"Come on."

"Aye." Anderson pronounced without a hint of sarcasm. "We'll protect your maiden virtue."

The paladins were rooted to the spot.

"Step lively, papists." Integra said, her voice giving away a hint of amusement.

Rose, Martha, and Donna trailed contentedly in Integra's wake, followed by the crowd of paladins as Heinkel and Yumie continued to bicker.

* * *

The streets of London continued to burn beneath the _Deus ex Machina_; a funeral pyre for millions of dead. It was mirrored by the blazes that had by now been set in every city on Earth.

The Major chuckled quietly as he, his officers, and the Master lounged on the zeppelin's bridge, viewing the full glory of the devastation as they took a break from 'entertaining' their two guests.

"This glorious struggle has only just begun, my friends."

Millennium's soldiers were swarming into Hellsing Manor, burning as they went, slaughtering the mercenaries defending it as if they helpless sheep.

"Atrocity will beget atrocity. It must. For such… is the nature… of war!"

The fat man was no longer able to hold back his hysterical laughter.

* * *

The red-and-black airship floated above the Thames like a massive, bloated insect, its engines droning loudly as it slowly rotated in place to allow its commander a panoramic view of the domain he had crafted for himself with fire, blade, and bullet.

It was later in the night now; the Major and the Master stood atop the _Deus ex Machina_ itself. The rigid armour plating offered a hard surface to walk upon, and the zeppelin was so large that there was little slope to either side if someone stood along the frame's dorsal seam as they did. The Major's coat flapped in the cold night air as glowing embers whirled through the sky aimlessly around the two warriors. The Master held a steaming mug of tea between his partially-gloved hands to warm them. Gallifreyans were a hardy people, but the zeppelin's altitude demanded some kind of external heat source for anyone to remain comfortable.

Anyone who could be properly counted among the living, anyways.

Taking a deep breath and sweeping his arm out to encompass the entirety of his great work, the Major broke the silence as the Master took a tentative sip from his tin mug.

"This is it." He grinned. "What my eyes have so longed for… Ah… what a sight."

"I've lost count of how many cities I've watched burn." The Master contributed. "I don't even remember how many I've made burn… But I have to admit…" His smile mirrored the Major's. "I never get tired of the sight."

"For what it's worth, Zorin's dead, sirs." Schrodinger spoke up from just behind the pair, surprising neither of them. "Killed by a gnat."

Schrodinger did not seem to be bothered by the cold, either. Not too shocking when it was taken into account that in many senses of the word, the child was not really there.

The Major laughed as he responded. "Well, that's hardly a surprise…"

He quickly returned his focus to the city beneath him.

"Watch how it burns, boy…" He spoke reverently. "Like the end of the Gotterdammerung…"

_Twilight of the Gods…_ The Master translated. _Ragnarok._

Inspired, he quoted the relevant human religious text, accompanied by the near-subsonic vibrations of the airship's engines and the dull roar of the city-devouring flames.

"_In this din shall the heavens be cloven, and the Sons of Muspell ride thence: Surtr shall ride first… then straightaway shall Surtr cast fire over the earth and burn all the world…_"

"You two are such meanies." Schrodinger almost purred. "You bring a whole army with you, but really they're nothing but kindling for your personal bonfire."

The Major's grin widened as the Master once again grew troubled by the level of the cat-boy's perception.

"What is hell if not a bonfire?" The Major opined.

"I am become death." He continued, quoting a text from another ancient human culture.

"I am the serpent; devouring myself. I take and am taken from without end… How many days of wild aspiration, how many nights of black entropy have I slain to witness this triumph?

Schrodinger quietly disappeared from his place behind the two men, clearly having heard all this before. The Master hardly noticed, fixated on the deep madness, the primal insanity that his ally was spinning into words.

"Our destruction approaches…"

The ageless SS officer's alien eyes stared crazily into space, seeming to vibrate with sheer chaotic intent.

"…together with our victory!"

* * *

Light bloomed from the dark, pre-dawn sky, trailing downward in three broad streams of glowing matter. To the untrained eye, and to the shell-shocked survivors hiding throughout London, it appeared that an angel had appeared to save them.

Several more angelic waterfalls of light burst into existence, shedding their radiance upon the burning city below. The beatific scene was then shattered by noise; a high-pitched whine of feedback, one loud enough to be heard across most of the city.

"We have come for you!" The rich, Italian-accented voice was one clearly used to public speaking. The man delivered his sermon unhesitatingly, with no inflection save the effortlessly self-righteous tone of the true zealot.

"We are the righteous soldiers of the Angel of Death! And tonight the world below shall know judgement!"

A fleet- No, a swarm of helicopters came into view, moving over the city from the South. They were visible now that they had been lit by the glowing, white-burning chaff dropped by the cargo planes escorting them.

Steel-armoured knights wearing the hoods of priests sat astride each helicopter, red crosses standing out from their white tabards. The crusaders were armed with customized anti-vampire weapons provided by the Vatican's Administration of Holy Relics' Third Division: A cross between modern .50 calibre anti-tank rifles and long-hafted halberds of a medieval design.

"England is guilty. The heathens are guilty! You are all now sentenced... to your death!

All over London, vampires looked up from their meals in alarm, suddenly confronted with a legitimate opposing force.

"I can offer you my pity, but my forgiveness? NEVER! Now prepare to be purged from the Earth. Mowed down like grass! CRUSHED LIKE BUGS!"

Maxwell's laughter filled the skies of London, growing hysterical quickly as he revelled in the glory of his task.

_Deus ex Machina_ rumbled slowly toward the airborne armada.

Schrodinger had rejoined the two commmanders on top of the zeppelin's frame. He was handing the Master a freshly-filled mug of tea as the Major remarked on the sudden appearance of the catholic army.

"Who knew?" He said, genuinely impressed. "That kid can really put on quite a show when his heart is in it!"

"It seems your taunt had its desired effect, Major." The Master said agreeably.

"Major!" A desperate shout came from a distance behind the trio. Dok was crawling towards them. His permanently-bloodstained lab-coat billowed in the breeze as he scrambled across the metal surface, clearly uncomfortable with precariousness of his position. Schrodinger rolled his eyes at the sight.

"Major," he called again, standing up to appeal to his leader, "this is dangerous! Please won't you come back inside?"

"Doktor, are the special projects ready?" The Major asked, ignoring his request.

"Ah- yes, sir. The younger has been prepared precisely to your specifications." A hint of a smile now replaced the look of concern on Dok's face as he related the success of his work. "I should remind you, he is untested, and deployment would be extremely risky."

Dok's smile grew as he good-naturedly baited the Major, knowing that 'untested' and 'extremely risky' were a few of his favourite words.

"And the elder?" The Master inquired, looking over his shoulder.

"The Captain is with him now." Dok replied. A flutter of unease ran through him as he mentioned the silent officer. Dok knew well that both the Captain and his actions were entirely beyond his control; something the scientist did not care for at all.

"Thank you, Doktor." The Major said contentedly. "This is most splendid news."

"Well," Dok said humbly, his smile back in place, "they are outstanding specimens."

"Adequate work, Dok." Schrodinger said without feeling, intentionally goading his creator.

"It's not like you've done any work, IDIOT!" The Doktor shouted, instantly rounding on the boy.

"I've done plenty of work!" Schrodinger shouted back. "I was watching Zorin at the Hellsing house and everything!"

"Oh…" Dok instantly deflated. "Right… hehe."

"Would you like to do the honours, my friend?" The Major asked the Master, indicating the helicopters before them, some of which were now descending to disgorge their occupants.

"It would be my pleasure, Herr Major."

Stepping forward a pace, the Master held his laser screwdriver up to his mouth like a microphone.

"SOLDIERS OF MILLENNIUM: PLEASE ATTEND CAREFULLY!"

Despite its name, the device still held some rudimentary sonic capability, which the Time Lord now employed to attract the attention of every vampire in London.

"ALL UNITS EQUIP YOUR ULTRAVIOLET COUNTERMEASURES AND PREPARE TO MUSTER!"

All over the city, the Nazis equipped themselves with gas masks. Their lenses had been specially treated to filter out the wavelengths of solar radiation harmful to vampires. This would allow them to fight during the day, and shield them from the impending sunrise.

The call spread across London as NCO's summoned their troops and swarmed together with all their supernatural speed to the centre of the city.

"Muster the battalion!" They cried. "Muster the battalion!"

All the while, crusaders continued to pour onto the chosen battlefield of Trafalgar Square. Ranks formed, row after row of holy warriors stacked up on the steps of the classically-designed buildings, their tower-shields facing their enemy and shielding them from above. They sighted down their Halberd-Rifles unafraid and ready.

Their immortal, unholy opponents glared back at them across the square, carbines and RPGs loaded and ready. The main forces of Millennium and the Vatican were assembled together, neither willing to open fire without orders.

"Enemies stand to our left. Enemies stand to our right! Eradicate all who stand before you!" Maxwell commanded, directing his air forces toward the _Deus ex Machina_. "Execute them all… Kill them…"

"Exterminate."

With a snap of Maxwell's fingers, the barrage of missile and gunfire began, projectiles speeding toward the hulking mass of the airship. It was a target that was impossible to miss.

Those elements of the Last Battalion too far-flung to get to the battle lines in time instead engaged the Vatican's aerial contingent, firing upwards at the nimbly-manoeuvring helicopters with everything they had, using their own lightning speed to dodge returning fire and keep pace with the sky-borne armada.

All the while, _Deus ex Machina_ droned forwards, directly into the oncoming fire. Hit after hit was scored on the airship's armour, peeling off the plating as fireballs left scorch-marks and the occasional gaping hole in the floating behemoth's superstructure.

Dok was forced to drop to the ground in a highly undignified manner as a flying piece of wreckage sailed through the air, through Warrant Officer Schrodinger, and directly towards him.

"Major! Do you hear me? Please come back inside!" He appealed. "The armour plating won't hold out for long! Major-"

He ran out of words abruptly, having finally grasped what he was seeing. At the airship's bow stood the Master, laser screwdriver in hand. He was sending blast after blast of killing energy at the swarming helicopters. Untroubled by range or the agility of his targets, the rapid-firing beams struck with deadly accuracy each time. A single moment of the bright amber light playing across one of the flying machines' hulls was enough to heat it to the point of detonation. Helicopters were falling as burning wreckage across the sky as the Master continually rotated and moved with his enemy, acquiring target after target with supernatural efficiency, dodging bullets and grinning out of sheer joy as he danced to the rhythm of battle: To the drumbeat.

The Major heard the same beat. Heard what Dok could not. He waved his arms expertly, not accompanying, but conducting the rhythm; conducting the battle itself.

"They think that it is music!" The Doktor wondered aloud. "Music of the battlefield!" The battlefield is their symphony… and we are their instruments: Great howling instruments, wailing their cacophonous notes! How could anything stand against them?!"

A single Vatican helicopter rose into view, having somehow pierced the Master's deadly screen of laser beams.

"We found our target!" The co-pilot radioed in as his partner rotated the chopper to face the Major, who was still happily conducting. "He's on top of the airship!"

"What the hell is he doing?" The pilot wondered aloud, disturbed by the heavyset man's insane, unconcerned actions. "He's crazy! A mad spirit of war…"

The helicopter's twin miniguns swivelled, zeroing in on their target. The Major completed his symphony with a flourish, spreading his arms outward, facing the helicopter head-on as it prepared to fire. The Master completed his dance, ending by pointing his screwdriver at the helicopter, sighting down his arm at its fuel tanks. At the last second, he put up his weapon, closing his eyes and grinning while he awaited the impending gunfire.

"Major!" Dok called in warning.

"Die!" The pilot yelled, pressing the firing switch.

There were two simultaneous gunshots and an eerie whispering sound. Two bullets cracked through the helicopter's windshield, hitting the pilot and co-pilot between the eyes. At the same time, loops of monofilament swirled around the helicopter, slicing it apart like a block of cheese as the strands were pulled tight. The pieces, stained with blood and oil, fell silently to the ground.

The Major's voice was sly and self-assured. "Quick and excellent work… my butler."

Walter stood partway back along the zeppelin's length, wearing a grim expression on his newly-youthful, unlined face.

The Master reopened his eyes, his smile still in place.

"Very nice shooting… Captains."

Two extremely long pistol barrels extended over each of the Master's shoulders, their ends still smoking. The Captain returned his Mauser to its holster. Jack Harkness did the same with his modified Webley. Now wearing the black leather long-coat of an SS officer, Jack's expression was as blank as Walter and the Captain's. His eyes now possessed the same intensity as the other two; the same deep rage and hatred only barely prevented from bubbling to the surface.

The two Captains flanked the Master, their fists now clenched as Walter took up his position just behind the Major. Dok and Schrodinger looked on eagerly.

Unable to contain himself any longer, the Major let loose with a laugh. It was a deep, rolling, howling belly laugh that echoed off of the buildings below.

"A plan half a century in the works!" He almost shrieked. "A death's-head mark for the Hellsing's angel of death!"

His laughter continued, the Master now joining in as he celebrated his own, total victory over the freakish immortal who now stood by his side.

_Your weapon is now mine, Doctor!_

* * *

**Author's Notes: The Doctor's elaboration of the First Great Time War is based on information from the novel ****_The Pit_**** (1993) and the two-part story (also in novel form) entitled ****_Interference _****(1999).**

**The post-battle scene with Iscariot was difficult to write as it's based on a scene that is offbeat, comedic, strange, and honestly does not translate well.**

**I changed the wording of Maxwell's command to open fire from 'Destroy' to 'Exterminate' in order to form a connection between the zealotry of the crusaders and the murderous xenophobia of the Daleks. Everyone can relax; there are no Daleks in this story.**


	11. Ch 9: Hell Sings

**Chapter 9: Hell Sings**

A few of the Vatican's helicopters had split off from the main force and were sweeping the city to search for survivors. When they found some, usually running towards them and raising their arms in hope of rescue, they mercilessly gunned them down.

"Die, die, DIE! KILL THEM ALL!" Maxwell raved as his command pulpit was carried above the scenes of slaughter. A napalm strike torched the length of an entire street, lighting the renewed violence in the city's core as Maxwell continued his rant.

"Filthy vermin! Feel the full force of our wrath: The power of the Vatican! THE ONLY GOOD PROTESTANT IS A DEAD PROTESTANT!"

More crazed laughter rang across the city from above. Integra, her three civilian wards, and the Iscariot paladins watched the helicopter's progress silently from an out-of-the-way side-street.

"You have betrayed us, Maxwell."

Integra's simple statement carried more anger in it's pronouncement than the Londoners had yet seen her express. She hadn't even been as clearly enraged when she faced off against the vampires.

"Sneak attacks and betrayals are just par for the course in war." Anderson said smoothly. "In some circumstances, I'd even say praiseworthy… especially against heathens such as yourself."

Donna gathered the girls closer as the paladins around them tensed threateningly, clearly waiting for Anderson's order to gun them down.

"However…" The blonde priest held their lives in his hands. "This… this is different. I cannot let this pass."

"Maxwell, you have become intoxicated by your own authority; intoxicated by your power. We are meant to be mere instruments of a higher power. I am but a blade wielded from on high; a guillotine blade in the service of God. But this, Maxwell… What you do tonight is not in the service of God; it is in the service of power!"

"You, Maxwell!" He bellowed at the heavens. "You've turned your back on God!"

The three women marveled at what had just occurred. Anderson's loyalties and convictions were absolute; they just seemed arbitrary because no-one else could fully comprehend the depth of his belief. To be spared like they had been was similar to being spared a direct hit by a hurricane.

Of course, not even his own subordinates could fully know his mind.

"Father Anderson, you need to focus on your mission; your orders! Maxwell wants Sir Integra Hellsing taken into custody immediately."

Half-a-dozen paladins drew their guns and leveled them at Sir Integra, encircling her. She now only bore a look of vague frustration.

"I don't like this." Anderson said quietly.

"What you like doesn't enter into it, Anderson!" Heinkel was almost shouting at the scar-faced man. "Understand?"

"I still don't like this!" Anderson's tone was petulant; almost childish despite the gravity of the situation.

Rose could easily understand the reason that Heinkel seemed to be imitating a scolding mother.

A red flash of light burst overhead. In much the same manner as Anderson's first disappearance, a scarlet blur plummeted down to the ground from rooftop level. A small tornado of gently-glowing shadow buffeted the paladins surrounding Integra to the ground, taking up a defensive position just in front of her.

A girl now crouched in front of Integra. She was blonde, and her eyes were bright red, seeming to glow in the dark. She wore some kind of paramilitary uniform. Martha realized with a shock that it wasn't originally dyed red; but was completely covered in blood.

_Another vampire!_

Her left arm was a swirling tentacle-like vortex of darkness and hellfire. What was most disturbing about the newcomer, however, was the look in her eyes… It was indescribable. To call it 'alien' would not be doing justice to the extreme distance that it placed this woman from anything human.

"Seras!" Heinkel named her.

"Seras Victoria!" Yumie echoed.

"You all right Sir Integra?" The blonde woman's voice echoed weirdly. "Any injuries?"

"I'm adequate. How's the headquarters?"

"We were attacked by enemy soldiers." Her answers were clipped. "We managed to kill them all... But the mansion has been destroyed… And Mr. Bernadotte…" Emotion entered her voice for the first time. "He is dead, sir."

Exhaling smoke, Integra seemed to stare directly into her servant, not needing to see her face to understand.

"Yes, I see. You drank from Mr. Bernadotte, didn't you? You've finally become a vampire."

Seras' face transformed as she smiled innocently; finally revealing something human about herself as she admitted to her monstrous nature.

"Yes. I have!"

Heinkel and Yumie tensed, partially drawing their weapons.

"Stand down!" Anderson commanded wearily. "Even with both of your power combined, that girl is way too much for you to handle… Seras Victoria the vampire. I've got to say, you're starting to become quite the fearsome creature." The priest spoke of her the same way a hunter might speak admiringly of a majestic tiger he is planning to shoot.

"Yes, father, and I'm getting stronger all the time." The vampire replied eagerly. "I don't think I'll be afraid of anything ever again."

"It's as if your eyes have become windows to a bottomless abyss. It's striking, considering how human you look otherwise-"

_A dead ship rolled through the fog, no human hand on the rudder. Once again, the Dragon's Son entered London, a demon riding with him_.

Everyone in the city felt it. In unison, Seras and Anderson looked in the direction of the Thames. A chill ran down the spines of the other paladins. In Trafalgar Square, crusaders and Nazis alike tightened their grips on their weapons in reflex; the beginnings of panic stirring in them. Donna and the others felt something different, however… the return of an old friend they had yet to meet. For the first time since the bombs fell, the three of them felt at ease; felt safe.

"He's returning…" Seras said giddily, still eagerly smiling.

Anderson laughed lightly, banishing the tense look on his face. "This is fantastic; it all comes crashing down…"

* * *

The Vatican helicopter pilots had the best view of the thick bank of fog screening the _Eagle_'s approach.

"There's something moving up the Thames River!"

"What is it?"

"A…" The young pilot groped for words. "Ghost ship…"

Colliding with the ruins of Tower Bridge, HMS _Eagle_ finally ground to a stop. There was a terrifying silence.

Alucard stood at the bow, grinning, his eyes closed as he savored the sensation of finally returning to his adopted home. The Doctor stood back-to-back with him, facing the TARDIS, awaiting the Master's inevitable next move.

Putting down the binoculars he held, the Master raised his laser screwdriver to the skies, whispering as he kept his gaze fixed on the stationary warship.

"Come and play…"

The TARDIS doors unlatched and swung smoothly open.

"Remember the plan, Count." The Doctor said shortly.

The vampire king wordlessly drew his pistols, hellfire brewing in the folds of his ragged, torn, red coat.

As Alucard leapt, the Doctor ran. The vampire sailed over rooftops, launching himself in a single bound towards the square; to the front lines, his coat flapping madly around him like the wings of a bat. The Doctor sprinted to his time machine, sweeping inside and working the controls feverishly, not bothering to remove his coat.

The two armies looked up in unison at the nightmare plummeting towards them. Alucard's descent slowed unnaturally, allowing him to touch down gently in the no-man's land between the opposing forces, guns and grin still firmly in place.

A swirl of pages lit by some unseen golden light materialized in the space across from Alucard, Anderson appearing in their midst. Drawing two sword-bayonets, he assumed a fighting stance, his smile mirroring that of his nemesis.

The TARDIS appeared next, its trademark wheezing mechanical groans preceding its arrival, the sound echoing off of the nearby buildings. The time machine was placed in the central position directly between the two armies. The Doctor stepped outside, his expression grim, backlit dramatically by the light blazing from the TARDIS' interior.

From the _Deus ex Machina_ hovering above, two figures came plummeting downwards. Their fall was un-slowed by magic. The Captain landed first, hitting the ground hard, cracking the pavement beneath him as he impacted without injury, ending up in a feral crouch. The second falling man was the Master, who cackled with joy as he streaked downwards. At the last moment, he drew his laser screwdriver, directing its beam at the ground below him. The area of street beneath him erupted suddenly into molten slag and high-pressure steam from the breached water-pipes below it. The shockwave and pressure of the explosion threw the Master clear, negating most of his downward momentum. He recovered with a roll, landing without a scratch and flashing the exact same grin as Alucard and Anderson.

The five combatants approached each-other unhurriedly, walking closer until they stood in a circle; the two armies surrounding them.

"And so it came to pass that those who had once gathered before a painted line of spears found themselves reunited before the real thing." The Major declared.

He continued from his perch atop the airship, still accompanied by Walter, Jack, Dok and Schrodinger. He summarized the parties involved like the announcer at a boxing match as his excitement grew.

"On one side, a division of Panzergrenadier vampires from Germany's Third Reich: The dreaded five-hundred-and-seventy-two vampire soldiers of the Last Battalion."

"On the other side, two-thousand-nine-hundred-and-seventy-five knights of the Roman Catholic Vatican Curia Ninth Airborne Mobile Crusade."

"In the middle, Her Majesty's Hellsing Organization. Just three of these mighty soldiers remain."

"And beyond this conflict- Above it- Surpassing it, stand The Last of the Time Lords. The Doctor and The Master. The Enmity of Ages is manifested once again, leading to a climactic confrontation with the fate of the Earth- And perhaps the universe at stake!"

"All is ready. The players prepare to take the stage and the curtain rises over this Walpurgis Dawn!"

Back in the square, the Doctor tossed a small chunk of metal and wood at the Master. It skittered to a stop at his feet. Recognizing his Deadlock Actuator and noting that it appeared to have been physically ripped out of the mechanism of the TARDIS door, he beamed at the Doctor triumphantly.

"I thought you made it a rule to never take your TARDIS directly into battle?"

"After what you did?" The Doctor responded coolly. "I'm never letting it out of my sight again."

All the while, Alucard was communicating telepathically with Integra, who stood safely on a rooftop with Seras and the three human survivors.

"My master…" He rumbled, evidently satisfied with what he had heard. "It shall be done… as you command."

"I am The Bird of Hermes…" he intoned, beginning the incantation.

The Doctor and the Master diverted their attention from each other to Alucard, ancient Time Lord instincts once again kicking in. Within the TARDIS, a black coffin shuddered as something inside it awakened. An ancient seal shone from its matte surface as the lid cracked open slightly, a pulse of crimson energy bursting forth from it and washing over the control room. A web of glistening blood began to ooze from the coffin's seal, spreading over its surface.

Anderson, the Captain, and the soldiers of the two armies could feel it now too. The feelings of the Vatican's men were simple enough. All life was right to fear what was coming. The Captain and the massed horde of Nazi vampires experienced it differently, however. They only felt the singular terror that lesser carnivores felt in the presence of an apex predator. It wouldn't kill them because they were prey. It would kill them simply because it could.

"Here standeth The Bird of Hermes…" Alucard repeated. "Eating mine own wings-"

Reacting almost unconsciously, Anderson charged Alucard, throwing a swarm of his bayonets through the vampire's unresisting form, piercing his body a dozen times over.

The Captain leapt, spinning around in mid-air almost faster than the eye could see, bringing his leg crashing sideways against Alucard's head, knocking it from his shoulders.

The Master's screwdriver was back in his hand, burning hole after hole into Alucard's crumpling, dissolving form.

The Doctor caught himself briefly wishing for a weapon of his own; he was just barely able to reassert control over himself, fighting off the aura of fear that now blanketed much of the city.

The two armies charged as one; not at each other, but at the dark, stormy shadow that roiled and expanded where Alucard had been standing. Both forces opened fire, heedless of bystanders.

Anderson teleported away, reappearing in another column of whirling pages on a nearby rooftop. The Captain simply jumped for dear life, aiming for the roof of another building. He grabbed ahold of the Master's coat as he leapt, dragging him along before the Time Lord could react on his own. Thinking quickly, the Master in turn snatched at the Doctor's coat as he attempted to run to the TARDIS through a hail of bullets. Luckily for the two Gallifreyans, the Captain's legs were still strong enough to launch the three of them clear. Only he landed comfortably, of course. His two passengers impacted heavily, rolling violently head-over-heels to a sudden stop on the dirty stone.

"It's as if everyone here can feel it coming." Anderson thought aloud. "Something terrible is about to happen. If we can't put this monster down… we may all be doomed."

Deep within the mass of hellfire and darkness, Alucard's consciousness, far beyond the limits of physical form, completed his chant.

"To keep… myself tame…"

Thin, whip-like, flickering tentacles emerged from under the coffin lid, slowly pulling it further open from the inside.

The crusaders continued their barrage of fire, the Nazis doing all they could on the other side, firing rockets, throwing grenades, and trying to bayonet the growing, writhing shadows at their feet.

The ground began to shake; strange, unpredictable air currents buffeting the _Deus ex Machina_.

"Here it comes!" The Major cried ecstatically. "I can feel it! A mighty river! A river of death! The dead shall dance…"

"And all of Hell shall sing!

Thousands of crimson-irised eyes opened in the unknowable depths of Alucard's coffin. Like the Doctor's TARDIS, it was his own true kingdom; where he came to be, and where he would die.

And it was bigger on the inside.

"Cease fire! Cease fire!" The squad leaders of both sides called desperately, trying to get a grip on the situation.

As the useless gunfire ceased, the square was held hostage by a deadly silence. Suddenly, impossibly, swarms of playing cards emerged from the hellish blaze, slicing Millennium's front ranks to ribbons. Simultaneously, a single musket shot rang out, the magic bullet passing through the Vatican vanguard, twisting and turning to slaughter dozens in a few seconds.

Two arms emerged from the fluid cloud, twisting and distorting as they burned. One held a rifle, the other a hand of playing cards. Tubalcain Alhambra and Rip van Winkle crawled, half-shaped from the unfolding vortex, their bodies as one with the shifting mass of eyes, teeth, blood, shadow, and flame.

Descending like a tidal wave, the hellish tower collapsed, sweeping over the armies and creeping along the ground like a nest of serpents. The doors of the TARDIS slammed closed, and the cloister bell tolled once. The churning red wave gave the blue box a wide berth, not touching anything within a metre of it. Red eyes glared from every shadow as the tsunami of burning, boiling blood crept up the buildings, needing room to take its proper shape. More humanoid forms emerged from the mass as it advanced, thousands of them, reaching blindly to do their master's bidding.

"No…" Maxwell stuttered, past realizing that his words were still being broadcast. "Stop it! It's impossible! How can something like that exist?!"

"That is the true face of the vampire Alucard." Integra spoke like a teacher delivering a lecture. "For blood is the currency of the soul, the vehicle of life. Blood is the medium by which life can be transferred. To drink blood is to take the essence of a soul into oneself. You understand the full ramifications of this now… don't you, Seras?"

"…Yes." She admitted at length, still labouring to come to understand what it was she had become.

Banners now rose from the mass, held high my cavalrymen and infantry from days long gone. A black dragon on yellow… and a gold crescent moon on red…

"The Kazan…" Anderson spoke, recognizing the forces of the medieval Khan. He was beginning to understand as he recognized the coats of arms. "And the Yeni Cheri forces…" The hundreds of elite soldiers from the Ottoman Empire began to form ranks with their brothers in arms from the Golden Horde. All of them dead. All of them serving a new noble lord. Their most feared enemy in life was now their master in death.

"…You devoured all of them. No matter how hard we try… we're never going to be able to kill you, are we?" Anderson stated simply, finally realizing his nemesis' full power.

"How many people have you consumed in your time on Earth?" He demanded of the army forming below him. "How many lost souls are trapped within you?!"

The Doctor, the Master, and the Captain were still gathered on their own roof, gazing down at the un-dead horde.

The Master broke the silence between the three of them by breaking into laughter. It began quietly, but quickly swelled to wrack his entire body. He was bent over almost double, helpless as the hysterics gripped him.

"How- How many…" He was barely able to speak, unable to notice the Doctor's growing look of unbridled rage as the time lord realized what he was about to ask.

"How many do you think we would have- inside us by now?!"

Tears ran down the Master's face as he continued to laugh at the thought, the maniacal sound only cut off when the Doctor full-body tackled him, unable to take anymore. The two tumbled across the roof, rolling over the edge together as the Doctor continued to pummel his foe, the Master struggling to get his breath back after the blow to his midsection.

The Captain barely spared a glance in their direction as they violently departed. His focus was wholly on the spectacle before him as he attempted to deaden the unfamiliar feeling that was spreading through his being. For one of the only times in his long, long life, the Captain was afraid.

Maxwell gripped his pulpit tightly, his knuckles whitening as he too saw the militaries of old rising from the ocean of blood below him.

"Wallachians…" He was sweating as he spoke. "It can't be…"

Cavalry charged from the red and black mass, their cloaks marked with a large, ornate letter 'V'.

"You consumed them! Your own soldiers! Your own subjects! You're a thing! A monster! A devil! You-"

A single humanoid figure stood alone in the centre of his forces, reverting to the form he held in life; the black sorcerer who once sought to cover the world in darkness. Hell's fires burned in his silhouette, and his red eyes glowed from the void of his face.

"-Dracula!"

Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia. Known as Vlad the Impaler, called Dracula: The Son of the Dragon.

Untamed locks of black hair billowed in the unnatural wind, tangling with the Vampire King's torn, ragged sable cloak. Dracula wore the armour of a medieval knight, carrying a massive broadsword strapped to his hip.

Waving his arms through the air like the magician he was, the dread conductor assembled his full forces behind him. The pike-wielding cavalry immediately charged along the street, splitting up and multiplying as they went, spreading through the centre of London.

The army of the dead, supplemented by his victims from Transylvania, Victorian London, and the Nazis he had killed in the Second World War, bore down on Trafalgar Square from all directions, seeking out any concentrations of Vatican or Millennium troops.

"Full perimeter defence!" shouted one of the few crusaders who had managed to keep their head, trying desperately to restore their order of battle. "Square up! Close formation!"

"No!" Maxwell continued to rave, maddened by fear. "What is this thing that's been awakened?!"

"It's death." The Major responded giddily. "Death has been awakened!"

"This is simply magnificent!" Dok said, awestruck as he observed the power surging through the streets beneath him. "Fantastic! I MUST HAVE ONE!"

"Kill it!" An anonymous Millennium soldier cried. "Everyone open fire!"

"Open fire!" The crusaders echoed, arranging their own formation to supplement the vampires' perimeter.

Even this impossible alliance forged by fire could not stop the wave of death approaching them. The familiars swarmed into the square, swallowing the Vatican forces and vampires both. The blessed rounds of the holy warriors didn't put a dent in the cavalry's advance, and the troops of Millennium and Iscariot both were either impaled or torn apart by the bare hands of Alucard's servants, drowning in a sea of violence, being utterly obliterated across the city.

"Fire! FIRE!" The Vatican's helicopters were emptying their weapons at the ocean of undead below them to no avail. "It's a nightmare down there! It's HELL! We keep shooting and it keeps coming!"

The skies were being efficiently cleared by Rip and Tubalcain. Musket-balls and playing cards downed the last of Iscariot's air forces, sending the flaming wreckage down to the seething pit below. The two former members of Millennium smiled as they worked. They would live through an eternal, immortal existence as the servants of Dracula, existing only to struggle and battle against his enemies for the rest of time. It suited them, and most of The Impaler's familiars, just fine.

Enrico Maxwell's helicopter was similarly downed. His lunatic shouts were finally cut off as his pulpit plummeted from the sky. Seeing this, Anderson wordlessly left the rooftop, leaving behind a cloud of glowing pages.


	12. Ch 10: Duels

**Chapter 10: Duels**

Trafalgar Square had been transformed. The bodies of the soldiers of the Ninth Crusade were everywhere. All had been impaled, side by side with the Nazi soldiers found by Dracula's familiars. The square was now a macabre forest like that the Impaler had created in years gone by. In the centre of the arrangement was the TARDIS, untouched. Before its tightly sealed doors Dracula knelt, facing his master.

The head of the Hellsing family stood formally, holding her sheathed sword at her side. Seras stood behind her; having just flown the survivors Integra had saved to Hellsing Manor where the remaining members of the Wild Geese could protect them.

"My Count, you have returned."

"At your pleasure, my Lady." Dracula's voice was richly accented, now that he inhabited the form he owned in life. He stood alone now that his powers had been fully manifested.

"Hi!" Seras said tentatively. "It's- Really nice to have you back, master."

The Impaler's ancient eyes stared back at her through the unbound locks of his hair that fell over his pale face.

Cringing in fear, Sears ducked back behind Integra for protection, but was unable to resist pointing out what was, to her, the most shocking aspect of his transformation.

"You seem to have grown a moustache, master."

When her master gave no reaction, Seras pointed at her upper lip to clarify.

"A- Moustache."

Standing, Dracula reached out to Seras, his armour clanking slightly as he moved. She flinched as his steel gauntlet rested gently on the top of her head. He ruffled her hair affectionately, smiling warmly now.

Seras didn't even realize he knew how to make that expression.

"Yes, Seras." He said paternally, his tone fond and proud. "My Seras Victoria."

The three stood in silence a while, Hellsing and her vampires reunited at last.

However, the peaceful moment was shattered all too soon, as three new players violently entered the square.

Gallifrey was located near the centre of the galaxy it inhabited, in a densely-packed region of space containing innumerable stars at all stages of development. This meant that the planet was bombarded with intense amounts of solar radiation. In addition, the planet's climate and position around its sun produced an exceedingly harsh environment with wicked extremes of heat and cold. The mountainous terrain was also all-but uninhabitable, and the atmosphere was very thin over most of the surface.

This arrangement caused the Gallifreyan race to be perhaps the hardiest and most resilient group of humanoid life forms in the universe. They shrugged off radiation, fatal electric shock, burning heat and freezing cold. But, most importantly, Gallifreyans could absorb blunt physical shocks that would shatter a human skeleton, and possessed reserves of physical stamina, strength, and agility beyond even the most exceptional human athlete.

So when the Master, channelling his limitless passion for combat into pure strength, threw the Doctor through the stone wall of a nearby building, sending him flying across the square toward his TARDIS, the Time Lord simply sprang back up to his feet, taking a moment to brush the dust from his coat as his enemy approached him.

At the same time, Anderson appeared with a blur of paper and ink in the air directly above Dracula, plummeting toward him, yelling a wordless battle cry.

Bayonet-tip met sword-tip as the two foes clashed. The shock of the blades meeting shattered Anderson's bayonet and threw him clear of the trio. Seras immediately gathered Integra up with her shadow arm, speeding her to safety.

The four men now stood in a loose gathering. Dracula and the Doctor had their backs to the TARDIS, where the vampire's coffin still lay. The Master and Anderson squared off against them.

"Nicely done, my nemesis." Dracula praised, focusing only on the Iscariot paladin.

The Master leapt upwards impossibly high in a standing jump, snatching a ceremonial sword from the belt of an impaled Millennium officer. Cuts and bruises were present on both of the Time Lord's faces, their clothes dirty and torn from their destructive bare-handed fight.

"Shall we cross blades once again, Doctor? By my count, this will be round three!"

"I am a servant of God," Anderson recited, preparing for his own duel. "An agent of divine punishment on Earth. I am called upon to cut away the flesh of infidels." He once again arranged his blades to form a cross. "And remove from the Earth all those who would defy God!"

"Doctor!" Integra called from a nearby rooftop, hurling her sword down to him. "You are still a Knight of the British Empire!"

The Doctor caught the sheathed sword out of reflex. He was interrupted in his protestations by Integra's shouted orders.

"In Her Majesty's absence, I charge you to defend this land from all who would destroy it!"

Turning back to the Master, he noted that his opponent's wild eyes did not look back at him… but at the TARDIS behind him.

Sighing in resignation, his face changed to a look of grim determination as he violently drew Integra's sword from its sheath with a flourish.

"The blade of Sir Doctor of Tardis is yours… my Lady."

The Master's manic grin widened.

The Major applauded slowly from his seat on the airship's bridge as he watched the lead-up to the two fights. The duels he had been waiting for had finally begun…

"AMEN!" Anderson shouted as he charged.

"EN GARDE!" The Master bellowed as he swung his sabre.

* * *

Anderson blazed toward Dracula like a comet, a corona of pages materializing around him as holy script glowed in front of him like a shield. Bayonet met sword in mid-air; the two foes straining against each other; their full power on display. Pages combusted themselves around Anderson, falling gently through the air in flames around the duo as the paladin expended his magic, once again forced to withdraw from the clash. Dracula's counterstroke was too powerful; his guard too perfect to be broken with raw force.

A single cut stood out on the vampire's cheek; a faint line of red blood against the perfect whiteness of his skin. Anderson's pulse quickened: It could be done! Alucard was finally in a form he could do damage to.

* * *

As the second, more ancient pair of enemies crossed blades; the two duellists remembered their previous sword-fights.

Fortress Island, where the Master had lost resoundingly…

"How many times have I told you?" The Doctor said, quoting himself with gritted teeth as the two locked blades. "Violence will never get you anywhere!"

And 13th Century England in the court of King John, where the Doctor proved victorious once again against his disguised enemy. But as always, the Master had had a trick up his sleeve.

"Oh my dear Doctor…" The Master said smugly, quoting himself now as he broke his opponent's guard and renewed his flurry of furious attacks. "You have been naïve!"

* * *

"You've become a formidable warrior. I'm impressed." Dracula spoke respectfully.

"Ready for more?" Anderson asked eagerly, his face concealed by his arms as he stood in a guard stance.

"Yes…" Dracula hissed. "Bring me more! Try to pierce my heart with your bayonets! Five hundred years ago… one hundred years ago… Now you come back to challenge me and awaken me again: My beloved nemesis!"

"Don't even need to ask." Anderson grinned behind his blades.

The opponents battled once more in a furious series of thrusts and parries. Anderson's whirling acrobatics and limitless supply of blades tested Dracula's guard more and more with each thunderous crash of steel. The vampire leapt above the priest, striking down at his back as Anderson charged, hitting only the ground below. Now that a distance had once more been established, Anderson summoned two handfuls of his sword-bayonets, hurling them at the vampire.

* * *

The Master's sword spun out of his hands as the Doctor completed his complicated manoeuvre, once again proving his peerless expertise with a blade. Before he could bring his own sword-tip to the Master's neck to force his surrender, the Doctor's weapon suddenly grew unbearably hot. The blade melted away from the hilt in an instant as a blast from the Master's laser screwdriver rendered it to slag.

Making a few deft adjustments, the black-clad time lord thumbed his weapon's control switch. A beam of golden light flared from the device, extending a meter and a half before looping back on itself. The result was a glowing blade of plasma and energized particles which extended from the screwdriver like a sword-blade from its hilt. The air hummed around it viciously as the Master waved it about himself in a grandiose flourish.

The Doctor stared in utter disbelief.

"…You have got to be kidding me."

* * *

The weapons shattered in mid-air as multiple gunshots, each as loud as a cannon-blast, rang out across the square, one hitting Anderson's left hand. They were fired through the vampire's cloak, which then unfolded itself from around him, revealing his restored, usual form.

"Pure silver Macedonian-processed mercury ammunition in Marvell's NNA9 cartridges." Alucard quoted unconsciously as he produced his two pistols, favouring the shining black monstrosity he held in his left hand. The memory of Walter's presentation of the weapon seemed to be replaying itself in the vampire's head as he continued to monologue. "Thirty-nine centimetres long, weighing sixteen kilograms with thirteen-millimetre armour-piercing rounds: The Jackal! This weapon is perfect, Walter!"

Striking his left hand with his right to aid in the resetting of the bones and the regeneration of his flesh, (which seemed to be taking a worryingly long time), Anderson bellowed in agony and rage as he charged his foe once more.

Alucard dodged nimbly, firing at the priest with his silver gun. Anderson deflected the bullets with his summoned blades. Grinning, Alucard produced the Jackal, cocked the hammer back, and fired once.

* * *

The Doctor's sonic screwdriver was in his hand, his fingers working the semi-telepathic control surface frantically. He had been unable to do anything but dodge as the Master's new blade sliced through the air, forcing him into an endless retreat as the madman cut through the forest of impaled victims, burning long, faintly-glowing furrows into the pavement as he kept up his destructive, chaotic assault.

Finally, the Doctor found the setting he needed, just in time. The Master's laser sword was stopped by a sonic barrier. It was a small shield that appeared as a vague distortion in the air; just enough to deflect the blade. It vibrated on a precise frequency; just enough to 'harden' the air within a certain area, resisting the laser screwdriver's ability to energize the particles into a beam of plasma.

The duel heated up once again, the Doctor barely able to keep pace with the Master's strikes, dodging and throwing up more sonic shields where he could as his opponent slowly wore down his defences; the amber beam coming closer and closer to maiming him with each exchange.

* * *

The explosive round blew Anderson's left shoulder apart in a spray of blood and puréed flesh. Heedless of the pain from the wound which refused to heal, Anderson swung again, but hit only familiars. Alucard had summoned them in an instant from the pools of blood at their feet to block the blessed blades' strikes. The vampire now used them as cover to retreat further, snatching the Doctor up by the back of his coat just before the Master could decapitate him.

The TARDIS dematerialized of its own accord, wheezing and groaning as it repositioned itself on top of a pile of rubble a block away; where Alucard and the Doctor had just landed. The street in front of the vampire and the time lord was now populated by a sea of Alucard's familiars, standing cheek-by-jowl between Anderson and the Master and their targets.

As a final blow, one of Rip's magic bullets twisted and spun its way through the sky, punching through Anderson's torso. It was closely followed by a half-dozen playing cards, which sped through the air, further shredding the paladin's chest and abdomen.

"Now what?" Alucard asked from his perch, illuminated by the glow from the TARDIS' windows behind him. The Doctor was on his hands and knees beside the vampire, gasping as he tried to catch his breath.

"What will you do? Your Dragon stands before you, Catholic. You're going to defeat me, is that right? What do you think your chances are? One in a hundred? One in a thousand? In ten thousand? A million? A billion maybe?!"

"I am more than prepared to destroy you, you monster-" Anderson was barely standing, his entire body painted with his own blood. "-no matter what the odds are against me."

* * *

The Major luxuriated in his comfortable armchair, flanked by his two Captains. Walter stood just behind him. The SS Officer's relaxed calm was in complete contrast to the increasing terror of the pronouncements flooding in on the airship's intercom as the remnants of the Last Battalion were hunted down and destroyed by Alucard's familiars.

"Contact with Nordland Platoon has been lost!"

"Respond to what?!"

"Communiqué from the aerial cruiser: The Burgerbraunkeller is out of ammunition!"

"Nobody is responding!"

"Oh Butler?" The Major asked, talking unconcernedly over the panicked death throes of his army. "Mix me up some Van Houten cocoa and bring it right away- And don't hold back on the cream and sugar."

Walter bowed silently to the man, walking away to accomplish his task as the Major began to summarize.

"London has been destroyed, the crusaders have all perished, and the Last Battalion is dying in the streets. Alucard is down there… and I sit up here."

"It's perfection!" He declared triumphantly. "Everything is proceeding just as I planned!"

* * *

Coughing blood, Anderson fell to his knees for a moment, only to spring back upright and hack two familiars to pieces. The Master stood in the distance behind him, his blade deactivated to conserve power. He weighed his options as he watched the paladin hack his way through the army between him and his enemy.

Ranks of men and women from centuries of history still stood before the priest. Their faces all wore the same grin and glowing crimson eyes of their master.

"What's the matter, Christian?" Alucard taunted, the Doctor watching Anderson's progress from his side. "Your Dragon is waiting! You're bruised and bleeding; your arm is hanging by a few strands of meat. What are you going to do? Will you die like a dog? Or on your feet like a man?"

The horde of familiars slowly advanced, arms reaching out to grab ahold of the paladin; to tear him apart.

"What does it matter, vampire?" Anderson asked softly. He leaned his head down to bite at the coat-sleeve of his dangling left arm, hoisting it up to where the blade it still held might do some good in a fight.

"You think a cut on my arm will stop me?" he growled, his voice muffled. "Now shut up! And come at me! Come on! Fight me!"

Alucard and the Doctor gaped at the spectacle. The man could barely hold his limbs together, but still he stood, bearing his blades and shouting challenges at his foes.

"Excellent." Alucard said, another genuine smile on his face now. "Humans are such fascinating creatures… aren't they Doctor?"

The Doctor nodded, for a moment forgetting that this singular Iscariot paladin was his enemy, and simply marvelling at the man's strength; his sheer will to keep fighting.

"Indomitable." He agreed softly.

Anderson charged again, slicing through the horde with shocking speed. Disabled as he was, still he ran through the crowd of enemies like they weren't there, leaving only bloody limbs in his wake. He threw a chain of blades, summoned from nowhere, into the masses before him, clearing a path as the blessed bayonets detonated with immense force, laying his route bare. The priest swung his ruined arm about him like it was a flail attached to the ruined stump of his shoulder, doing almost as much damage with it as he did with his uninjured arm.

"I WANT MORE!" He bellowed, drawing closer and closer to Alucard. "MORE! MORE! MORE! MORE!"

"OUT OF MY WAY!" Anderson shouted as he was confronted with a massive, muscular familiar. He stabbed his right bayonet through the familiar's mouth, piercing its brain. As the giant fell, he was met with the sight of a cavalry charge. Wallachian knights bore down on him in a wedge formation, an ornate blood-red letter 'V' standing out from their banners. Their lances were levelled to impale him on their master's command.

The Knights fell in a hail of gunfire. Blessed bullets passed through their heavy armour like it wasn't there, knocking the familiars from their horses, breaking the formation of Alucard's elites.

"Damn it!" Anderson yelled, turning back to face the men who had saved his life. "I said leave! You stupid meddling idiots!"

Heinkel stood in front of the massed ranks of Anderson's contingent of paladins. All of their pistols were smoking. The blonde priest spat her cigarette from her mouth to angrily reply.

"And what did you expect us to do? Just pack everything up and run back to the Vatican? What sad sort of thing would that make us? Because none of us would be soldiers of Iscariot anymore."

"_By the cry 'amen' and the slaughter of the unworthy, the world slippeth back into place!" _Yumie quoted, slicing down the remaining familiars near Anderson with one stroke of her katana. "Those were the words you taught us, aren't they? Did you think we would abandon our righteousness? You are the idiot."

"You are such a fool!" Anderson continued to berate his subordinates. "I just- wanted someone to survive, and carry on with our work!"

As Anderson spoke, the Master emerged from the mass of Iscariot paladins, the crowd parting slightly to allow him through. The priests kept their weapons trained on him as he silently walked forward to stand before Anderson.

The time lord looked the man in the eyes seriously, though he was unable to stop from smirking slightly as he spoke. "I don't know what your quarrel is with the Vampire, priest, but so long as he guards that blue box, we share a common enemy."

Anderson looked at the Millennium agent carefully before studying the faces of his paladins; all of whom he had trained from their youths.

"Too many have gone to Limbo today…" He said sadly.

He clapped his right arm down onto the Master's shoulder, squeezing tightly, a manic glint returning to his eyes.

"But since I'm charging full-speed into hell, I might as well have some company…"

Anderson, the Master, Heinkel, Yumie, and all of the Vatican's agents bore the same eager look now as they closed ranks, marching to the same drumbeat. Heeding the same Call. Anderson and the Master led the formation, the time lord's laser sword flaring to life once more. Heinkel and Yumie stood behind the unlikely pair, followed by dozens of gun-toting paladins.

"Guess we're gonna do this together, then." Anderson said grimly. "Let's tell them who we are!"

"We are the soldiers of Iscariot!" The priests chorused. "We are Judas Iscariot!"

* * *

"Countless little lives struggle and writhe together." The Major mused aloud as he sipped his cocoa, watching the paladins' charge. "Like tiny cells making up a great beast; struggling towards its own illumination: Seeking blood… whilst spilling blood. Continuously multiplying and receding; fighting against itself without end."

He set his cup back onto its saucer.

"Whether they seek that enlightenment through their faith in a God, in the name of Nazism, in the creature called Alucard, or even in the man who calls himself The Doctor, we are all now united by the same thing!"

The drumbeat thrummed through the Major's being.

"It's a dream come true, isn't it? My dark brethren!"

* * *

Paladins were being speared on pikes, setting off the explosives strapped to them with their last breaths: Suicide charges to clear the street as explosions tore through the army of familiars.

"'til death!" They cried.

"Amen!"

"Go to hell!"

Heinkel's guns blazed, hitting her mark with every shot. Yumie and Anderson's blades flashed in the moonlight, cutting through servant after servant. And everywhere there was the Master, his laser sword shearing through dozens of the vampire's slaves as he waded through the bloody battle untouched, drawing ever nearer to the Doctor and his TARDIS.

In the end, Anderson and the Master stood before their foes, the light of the TARDIS shining down on the four of them once again. Alucard's familiars had been completely decimated, thanks to the sacrifice of almost the entire force of Iscariot priests. Heinkel and Yumie stood a distance away, leaving Anderson to face the vampire king on his own terms.

"You stand before me…" Alucard said. "I'm impressed… I'm impressed, Iscariot! Show me more, Alexander Anderson!"

The Master's laser sword finally fizzled, the massive amounts of power needed to sustain it finally draining the screwdriver dry. Frowning in annoyance at the now-useless device, the Master stared up at the Doctor defiantly.

"I wouldn't look so confident." The Doctor said haughtily. "You've still got to get through us."

Anderson produced a long, wooden box. It was partially wrapped in cloth which hovered weirdly about the wooden container, no seeming to be affected by gravity.

The temperature seemed to drop a few degrees as it was produced. Both the Doctor and the Master felt a twinge of foreboding; though Alucard seemed outwardly unconcerned.

"You are not the only one who carries a mighty weapon, vampire." Anderson said.

"So is this the toy that's going to defeat me?" Alucard asked confidently.

Anderson increased his grip on the box's end, causing the wood to crack. It looked as though the process was being helped by whatever was inside the box. The contents seemed to be attempting to burst free.

Now Alucard felt it, too. The chilling aura emanating from the container finally reached him.

The box fragmented into splinters. The shards hung suspended in the air before falling, orbiting the weapon inside for a moment like planets around their parent star.

Within the box was a nail; an ancient six-inch spike of metal held together with metal wire.

The Master took an instinctive step back from Anderson as the nail was revealed. The Doctor blinked in shock, looking to his fellow time lord in disbelief.

"Is that-" he asked, fear present in his voice.

"No." The Master shook his head. "It can't be-"

"A nail?" Alucard asked, confused. His expression became bored as he began to recite. "The Shroud of Turin, the Holy Grail, the Lance of Longinus... Should I assume that you're threatening me with the last of the Holy Artefacts of Rome?"

"Oh yes." Anderson rumbled.

"It still smells of blood and miracle." Alucard pronounced distastefully as he recognized the legendary relic.

"The Nail of Helena"

Anderson extended his arm, the nail pointed toward his chest. "Prepare!"

"Anderson! Stop it!" Alucard shouted, his face showing signs of panic. "Do you know what that thing will do to you? You'll become one of God's monsters! Maintain your humanity; don't succumb to power! Either side, it amounts to the same deal. Whether in the name of the divine or demonic, you're still a monster in the end. Do you intend to use that scrap of miracle to become nothing but a scrap of miracle yourself? This duel between us… would you really push it this far? Into the realm that lie beyond mortal life?"

Alucard passed his eyes over the Time Lords.

"A monster such as myself… a creature of such weakness that I could not bear the weight of a human life. If I am to be defeated, it must be by a human."

"He's right, father!" The Doctor called to Anderson as he remained poised, ready to use the nail on himself.

_The quest for power, for invincibility and immortality… it changed Rassilon from the well-intentioned and wise founder of our society into the blood-soaked monster that drove the universe into the Last Great Time War._

"If that nail is what I think it is, there's no coming back!"

"He might have a point, father…" The Master tentatively agreed, still backing away.

"Don't do it human." Alucard's expression was weary now, mournful as he witnessed a man about to commit the same mistake that he had over five hundred years before. "Don't become a monster… a monster like me…"

"I want nothing more than to be a bayonet." Anderson said softly, choosing his last words carefully, regarding each of the three men around him in turn. "A bayonet wielded by the hand of God. I would have been happy to have been born a storm, or a divine threat… A mighty explosion or even a terrible hurricane: A divine force of nature, without a heart, or pity. And if this relic can transform me into such a thing… then I am happy to abandon my humanity."

Anderson fell to his knees and drove the nail into his heart.

* * *

**Author's Notes: The Doctor was knighted by Queen Victoria in ****_Tooth and Claw_**** (2006).**

**The Master and the Doctor have crossed swords twice before. In ****_The Sea Devils_**** (1972) and ****_The King's Demons_**** (1983). The lines they quote are from those two stories respectively.**


	13. Ch 11: Betrayal

**Chapter 11: Betrayal**

Thorny tendrils crept over Anderson's torso. Blood no longer flowed from him. He no longer had blood. The nail vibrated; twisting and rattling against Anderson's ribs as steam emanated from the wounds in his body.

Alucard shook with rage.

"You… You fool…"

The vampire stalked toward the kneeling priest, his guns in his hands. He ignored the protests and warnings of the two time lords as he walked past them, the Doctor frantically scanning Anderson's body with his screwdriver.

Waves of heat distortion flooded from the blonde man's body, rippling the air above his unseeing eyes.

"You bloody fool!" Alucard shouted, raising his gun to Anderson's head. There was a slight blur and a flash of blue light. Alucard's right arm and head detached themselves from his body as a result of a single sword-stroke too fast for the eye to see.

Reflexively, as he fell, Alucard brought up the Jackal and fired a round through Anderson's face, blowing the left half of his head off.

Energy appearing different, but also eerily similar, flooded into the spaces left by their wounds. Alucard now possessed a shadow arm similar to Seras'. His head was just a nexus of burning shadow from which a single red eye glared; a set of teeth bared at his nemesis in rage. Tendrils and vines filled in the part of Anderson's head that was destroyed, reforming a facsimile of his old features.

"It's thorns…" Yumie said, unable to comprehend the level to which the battle before her had just reached. "All thorns…"

"Anderson…" Heinkel said mournfully. "What in God's name have you done to yourself?"

"His body is no longer that of a man's." Alucard's voice echoed from somewhere within him now that he no longer possessed lips to move. "The only way either of us may return to dust is to have it gouged out of us… The sickness… in our hearts."

Heinkel and Yumie called Anderson's name to no avail. Alexander Anderson no longer existed.

His former body stepped forward, crushing his ruined eyeglasses underfoot as it formed the sign of the cross with its bayonets, branches twisting from its body in a cloud of unnatural thorny limbs.

Alucard mirrored the monster's gesture, arranging his weapons in an inverted cross, an aura of hellfire burning around him as shadowy tendrils extended from his unholy form.

Unbeknownst to either of them; this duel hearkened back to the times soon after the universe's creation; when the newly-formed society of Time Lords fought against the alien invaders they had unknowingly let loose on reality. They were desperate… willing to go to any lengths to stop the all-devouring menace…

"A Rassilon Stake." The Doctor pronounced.

"How?" The Master growled. The two time lords were standing together now, watching fearfully as the monsters continued their duel. "They were confined to the Omega Arsenal after the Yssgaroth were destroyed… And then we used them all in the Time War!"

The Rassilon Stakes were developed as an attempt to create the exact inverse of a vampire, in order to cancel out the obvious advantages they possessed in direct combat against a Time Lord. Instead of being slain by a stake to the heart, these creatures would be born by a stake to the heart…

Alucard riddled the monster before him with bullets, only for the terrible wounds to instantly heal due to the unparalleled regenerative ability provided by the thorn-bearing vines running throughout the creature. The vampire was stabbed through the chest as the monster made it through the hail of bullets unscathed. Alucard freed himself by shooting the arm that had stabbed him apart with a blast from his handguns. The arm healed itself as quickly as the vampire's chest wound did. Tendrils of blood imbued with hellfire attempted to grapple Alucard's foe, only to be ripped apart by the monster's impossibly-strong vines. Alucard's next bullet struck the Stake itself with pinpoint accuracy; the Doctor's warning coming too late as it hit its target, expending its energy uselessly against the unyielding metal spike.

Instead of the heart being their weakest point, as it was with a vampire, among these monsters, it would be their strongest.

Only a few Rassilon Stakes were ever made, however, as it stripped the user of their free will, making them a mindless monster that destroyed all in its path, living and un-dead both, in an attempt to eliminate any spread of vampirism.

Like every other weapon locked away in the Time Vaults, though, their use was renewed in the Last Great Time War. Countless Dalek ships were destroyed by titanic space-borne monsters of twisting vines and thorny branches that stretched across space; ripping fleets apart with their bare hands. The stakes had been granted to aged time lords that had run out of regenerations, who were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to preserve life in the universe, knowing that their brothers and sisters would be responsible for putting them down once the enemy had been crushed: Just one more tiny atrocity in the unholy nexus of unimaginable carnage that was the Last Great Time War.

"Obviously one made it to Earth, landing in Jerusalem to be found by Emperor Constantine's mother, Helena, in the 4th century. A device that powerful would have had seemingly-supernatural effects… She must have seen it as a miraculous holy relic."

"None of that matters now!" The Master barked. his expression fearful as the newly-spawned monster drove thick columns of coiling vines into the sides of nearby buildings, hoisting its main body up into the sky, more whip-like tendrils hanging below it, coiling threateningly. "What the hell are we going to do about that?!

"'We'?!" The Doctor shouted, rounding on the Master. "What's this 'we', all of a sudden?"

The Master grabbed ahold of the lapels of the Doctor's coat, pulling him closer.

"That thing. Will kill. EVERYTHING ON THIS PLANET!"

Reconsidering the situation, the Doctor took note of the increasingly-defensive nature of Alucard's fighting, as well as the Master's well-documented drive for personal preservation.

Sighing deeply, his drew his sonic screwdriver and held it up to the Master's laser screwdriver, which he had deftly pick-pocketed when the Master had grabbed him. The devices hummed as he transferred half of his screwdriver's remaining power reserves to the master's drained weapon.

"Do not make me regret this." He warned, handing the screwdriver back to the Master. The two turned back to the field of battle, united, just in time to see one of the monster's bayonets stab down into Alucard's forehead. The vampire's knees buckled, sending him to the ground. His gun arm fell uselessly to his side as dozens of whip-like thorny branches swarmed out of the wound where the knife met Alucard's face and emerged from his throat.

"So…" The Master asked, watching their last line of defence crumble. "Was there a plan, or-"

The Doctor was long gone, sprinting toward the TARDIS doors, leaving the Master to fight alone.

"Keep it busy!" The Doctor called behind him as he ran. "I've got a- thing!"

"A thing?!" the Master shouted, re-activating his sword as the monster's vines crept closer to him.

"It's a thing in progress! Respect the thing!"

The branches continued to wrap around Alucard's inert form, strangling him. Flame sprouted in their midst, spreading like a torrent through his familiars. Across the city, gouts of holy fire devoured the vampire king's servants as their master burned.

* * *

The Doctor stood before the TARDIS console, stroking its surface gently, trying his best to ignore Alucard's coffin, which creaked and groaned portentously in the corner.

"Please…" He almost whispered. "I need this. They need this."

He needed a sign; something to show that all he had done had been worth something. The Doctor didn't have much time left; that he was sure of.

"Help me show the two of them that there's another way; that there's a way to come back from this… ancient mistake!"

_Vlad knelt at the executioner's block; Anderson knelt, preparing to stake himself through the heart..._

_He knelt before The Moment…_

* * *

Meanwhile, the monster stabbed Alucard through the chest, its bayonet burning through him as the creature grimaced in rage. The Master was manoeuvring frantically, trying to stop the swarms of vines from spreading; trying to keep them off himself by slicing through them and blasting the larger clusters when they presented themselves. It was to no avail though; they multiplied faster than he could cut. The Master was losing ground, and it looked like Alucard was finished.

Seras Victoria arrived on the scene, crying out for her master and catching the monster's blade before it could fully pierce the vampire's heart. Tendrils snaked down the length of the blade and around Seras' arm, fire following the thorny branches as they grew. Both vampires strangled and burned together as the monster continued to slowly slide his sword home. Alucard's familiars burned to nothing but ash, Tubalcain and Rip disappearing like all the rest, released from the vampire's world-body to be claimed by heaven or hell.

The young vampire continued to shout for her master, trying to get him to awaken, to stop this impossibility from happening… And at last, her cries were answered.

"You're noisy, police girl." Alucard spoke almost casually as his body burned and gnarled branches choked him.

"As always your voice rings in my ears like an ear-piercing screech." He continued, annoyed.

"Master!" Seras said happily.

The monster growled in anger as Alucard's hand emerged from the flames, placing itself on Seras', halting the bayonet's progress.

"Anderson. I would have been glad if you defeated me. On that day… On that dusk-covered wasteland… If it was that day, five hundred and twenty three years ago, I would have been glad to let you pierce my heart… But now, it's too late. You cannot defeat me!"

The bayonet broke; the monster's vines and tendrils snapping with it. Alucard now rose from the cleansing fire, a tower of shadow.

"It takes a human to defeat a monster! It can be done no other way!"

Collapsing his form, Alucard reappeared, clad in a black bodysuit that bore more than a passing resemblance to a straightjacket. Snarling like an animal, he charged at the creature, which sent out a wave of branches to bind him once more. The vampire simply muscled through them, the Master aiding where he could, clearing a path for Alucard.

"Yes! Yes, KILL HIM!"

The doors of the TARDIS slammed open just as Alucard reached the monster. As the vampire struck, a wave of golden light poured from the TARDIS' interior. Alucard's right arm punched into the monster's chest just as the light touched it. As Alucard tried to withdraw his arm, taking Anderson's heart with it, the light intensified, keeping the heart connected to Anderson's body. The organ snapped back into his chest cavity, leaving Alucard holding only the Stake in his hand, which he then crushed.

The few pieces of Anderson's original body that remained hung in the air, suspended in the light flooding out of the TARDIS. In a surge of golden light, the priest's body was healed, the shining particles of regenerating energy rebuilding him, re-growing bone, muscle, and skin in seconds.

The light faded, withdrawing into the TARDIS, leaving Anderson's barely-clothed body on the pavement. The Doctor stepped forward from the TARDIS cockily, closing the doors with a snap of his fingers and walking down to where Alucard, Seras, Integra, and the Master stood around the body of the paladin. Heinkel, Yumie, and the remaining Iscariot priests were hurrying to see their fallen leader.

They arrived just as Anderson sat up, inhaling a long, gasping breath.

"What the hell did you do?" the Master asked.

The Doctor could see the same question written on Integra, Seras, and Alucard's faces. He answered pleasantly as Anderson's comrades surrounded him, praying, questioning, and in Heinkel's case, angrily berating.

"This was the culmination of a theory I'd been working on for a while. I first noticed something was off in the way the TARDIS behaved around Alucard. The strange behaviour continued later as it proved itself to be immune to Alucard's familiars, and then moved itself out of the line of fire to where it is now."

"It moved itself?" The Master interrupted. "You didn't do that by remote control?"

"I haven't had a remote control for the TARDIS in centuries; too much risk of somebody lifting it off me and stealing her."

He glared at the Master for a moment. He stared back innocently.

"Anyway, this led me to think that TARDISes, by their nature, would take steps to defend themselves in the event of the presence of Vampires. They would become more… active. More alive in the presence of un-dead."

"The second piece of the puzzle was Anderson's strange abilities. Sir Integra told me about him when I first arrived: 'The Regenerator'. His moniker was more than just coincidence. Once he produced the Stake, I guessed that if the Vatican held one piece of Time Lord technology, it was possible that they had experimented with others. Anderson's 'regeneration' was based on the way we Time Lords heal ourselves when we regenerate into a new body."

"With all this information, I made the next leap in logic to guess that the TARDIS, if given the chance, would recognize Anderson as an ally of the Time Lords (as imbued as he was with Gallifreyan technology) currently in combat with a Vampire. I opened the Heart of the TARDIS and let the Vortex's energies do the rest."

"Of course I had to time it perfectly to the moment Alucard struck a killing blow to avoid simply boosting Anderson's abilities and risking him overpowering Alucard."

The four men and women around the Doctor simply stared.

"But why would you save him?" Integra questioned. "He was your enemy."

The Doctor shrugged, his hands in his coat pockets.

"It's what I do."

"Well, he's right there." The Master admitted wearily.

Alucard moved over to Anderson, who was just now standing, having been given a coat to wrap himself in by one of his fellow paladins. The Iscariot soldiers tensed as the vampire approached, knowing that they could do nothing against him, but prepared to die in a second if it meant protecting their commander.

Alucard bowed his head humbly, grimacing in anguish.

"We are the same!" He shouted.

Integra smiled in understanding, lighting a new cigar.

"We are the same…" Alucard repeated. "I ended up just like you did!" The vampire cradled his head in his hands, his voice breaking, just short of tears as he remembered his own brutal death. Comprehending, the Doctor's face grew solemn.

"I was just like you were!" He cried, remembering the brutalized remains that had been all that was left of the paladin until a moment ago.

"Monsters..." Anderson said carefully, his voice weakened from his ordeal. "Don't cry… Do children hide under your bed?"

The sun rose in the East, its rays illuminating London's ruins.

Alucard rose to his full height, finding himself able to look Anderson in the eyes.

"Demons don't cry. You became a demon so you wouldn't have to cry, right?" Anderson asked, knowing the answer firsthand now. "People cry… and when their tears are dried up, they become demons and are reduced to monsters."

The Doctor's heart wrenched as he remembered the War… and what he had become to fight in it.

"So laugh." Anderson commanded. "Laugh arrogantly, like you always do…"

"How long will we live?" One immortal asked the other. "How long will our pitiful selves continue to exist, now that we have made this choice?" Anderson looked from the Doctor to Alucard and back as he spoke.

"Until the weight of our future crushes the burden of our past." Alucard answered. "Then we will all meet in Limbo."

Placing a hand on each of his fellow warrior's shoulders, the Doctor brought them back to the present.

"Amen." He said.

"Amen." The two echoed.

"Amen." A voice repeated sarcastically, dripping with contempt.

Monofilament whipped along the streets, slicing into buildings, shearing support beams and collapsing entire city blocks in a wave of destruction. The web extended for a hundred metres in every direction.

At the centre of the nexus of destruction stood two figures, standing in the street between the TARDIS and the hodgepodge group of time lords, Hellsing members, and Iscariot priests.

Seras gasped; the cigar fell from Integra's mouth. The Doctor and the Master bristled at the newcomers as Alucard and Anderson prepared for battle, the paladin summoning more blades as his contingent of priests reloaded their weapons and made ready to fire.

Walter luxuriantly placed a cigarette between his lips, his youthful face showing nothing but disdain. Beside him stood Captain Jack Harkness, glaring angrily at his foes.

"Walter?!" Integra cried, unable to believe her eyes. "Is that you?"

"I'm afraid so." The Doctor confirmed.

"Trash." Walter pronounced, raising his hand to point at Anderson. "When a person dies, they become trash… and there's no need to shed tears over trash. Isn't that right, Integra?"

"Walter-" Integra had no words.

Captain Jack spoke next, proving he was not as mute as his white-haired counterpart.

"You don't seem surprised to see me like this, Doctor."

"I suspected it as soon as I saw Integra without you and Walter. Part of me hoped you had just been captured until Millennium could find a way to kill you, but I knew that he-" The Doctor glared at the Master. "-wouldn't rest until you were his; until he had a pet freak just like the Major did."

"Ah- Doctor- You give me too much credit. Something I until now had thought impossible." The Master said, looking distinctly worried as Jack now turned his glare on him. "I suggested he would make a good subject- I certainly told the Major about his ability, but… He is in- ah- no way under my control."

"Speaking of under control, Master, what the hell do you think you're playing at?!" Jack demanded. "Helping Anderson against Alucard was never part of the plan! The Major is not happy…"

"Walter! Just what did they do to you?" Seras asked.

"What did they do?" Walter responded coolly. "'I was captured, turned into a vampire, brainwashed, and cruelly forced to fight against my former master.' If I said something like that, would you be satisfied, Seras? I stand here of my own volition, under the orders of no man. I stand here as myself: Walter C. Dornez. I, with my own murderous intent, will sever you from this new dawn."

"Handsome Jack, on the other hand-" the Master interjected, "-is most definitely not himself."

"He's right, Doctor!" Jack declared triumphantly. "The Jack Harkness you knew is gone forever. Now there is only the hunt!"

"The hunt?" The Doctor replied numbly.

"Walter…" Integra's fist clenched. "WHY, WALTER?!"

"Don't call me by that name!" Walter shouted back.

Yumie, no longer able to stand the tension in the air, or the insults to her master, charged forward, drawing her katana, deaf to the appeals of Heinkel and Anderson.

"Kill! Kill! Kill! KILL! I don't give a shit about this blather between master and servant!"

Yumie transformed, becoming a blue-white blur in the air as she passed through Walter

"I've got you!" She declared in triumph, holding out her sword proudly.

_Another sword-stroke too fast to see!_ The Doctor wondered. _But against the Angel of Death?_

"You haven't got anything." Walter said smoothly. "You've just been had."

The invisible monofilament wires around Yumie tightened… and she was pieces.

"NO!" Anderson cried, brandishing his bayonets and charging forwards. Only Alucard's outstretched arm prevented him from assaulting Walter immediately.

"YUMIE!" Heinkel screamed, drawing her gun. Before she could fire, there was a press of cold metal against her left cheek.

The Captain stood beside her, one of his long-barrelled pistols pressed against her face. He fired without glancing at her once.

"No one can stop me." Walter said with absolute confidence. "I won't let anyone interfere with my betrayal."

Anderson, hearing the shot, charged back to Heinkel. The priest gasped on the pavement, choking on her own blood. Her face had been shot apart, both of her cheeks just raw wounds now. The Captain lowered his pistol to aim at her face once again. He made eye contact with her and then deliberately shook his head. Taking the time to withdraw a first-aid kit from his coat and toss it to Heinkel almost enabled Anderson to slice him in half.

Almost, but not quite.

The captain shot off, appearing as no more than a blur, his mission completed. He was supposed to ensure the neutralization of the Iscariot paladins Heinkel and Yumie. Yumie had been dead when he arrived, and Heinkel was definitely out of action now.

The Major had never mentioned Anderson to him. It was no concern of the Captain's if the Major had mistakenly thought the bayonet-wielding priest had been killed.

"Heinkel?! Are you all right?!" Anderson asked as he and the other paladins gathered around her bleeding form.

"Never min' me!" Heinkel gasped, her speech garbled; almost unintelligible. "Vhat abou' Yumie?!"

"It's no use, Heinkel. She's…" Anderson could not say it. Another soul under his care had passed to God.

Heinkel swore repeatedly, cursing the butler as she bandaged her ruined face. She attempted to snatch a rifle from one of the other Paladins, but Anderson restrained her, refusing to let her charge back into battle in her state, letting her scream her grief to heaven.

Alucard turned from the scene behind him to once again face Walter, who wore the same haughty look as he had since his reappearance.

"Stand before me and fight, Alucard!"

Alucard laughed genuinely.

"Didn't you once say that curmudgeonism is a traditional pleasure for English gentlemen? Didn't you always refuse an easy path to vitality? Your aged body was a billion- a trillion times more beautiful than how ugly you have become now."

"Millennium still wants you with us." Jack appealed to the Master. "You can still have your chance to kill the Doctor!"

The Master laughed briefly. "Kill the Doctor? Never! I just wanted to spar with him a little; see if we both still had the same fire!"

"So you mean to say-"

"Yes. This entire little escapade was a simple test for my new body."

The Master gazed around him; the dawn's light illuminating the ruins and wrecked buildings, the stench of death still heavy in the air.

"I think it went rather well, don't you?"

Jack gritted his teeth.

"Master-" the Doctor warned.

"Come now, Handsome Jack, even someone as basic as you must see that the Major was an idiot to even attempt to kill Alucard! You saw his true power tonight, the same as I! Millennium: A fool's errand from the beginning… and now it's as good as over."

The _Deus ex Machina _lowered in the sky, hanging above Walter as Alucard continued to condemn his former friend.

"Both your mind and body are consumed by death now."

"Yes." Walter admitted. "After all, this world is just a carnage-filled nightmare." He gestured at the devastation around him. "When dawn breaks, I will finally become a true Angel of Death!"

"So stand and fight, Alucard!"

"Both you and I are dogs now… just obedient dogs. And dogs won't howl unless they're told to…"

Alucard turned to Integra and prostrated himself.

"Orders... Order me, my Master! I can kill. I am ready to strike anyone down without a moment's hesitation, or the slightest hint of regret. I am a monster, after all. And you… are Integra. I can aim the gun. I can set the target in my sights. I can load the magazine, pull back the hammer, and unlock the safety…"

"However… I can only kill if you will it. Well, what will you do? Your orders, Hellsing Director: Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing!"

"Say it!" The Major said giddily, watching the proceedings from binoculars. "Say it, say it! Say it, fraulein!

"Say it!" Dok echoed, matching the Major's excitement. "Say it, say it, say it, say it!"

"Say it." Schrodinger agreed. "Come on. Say it!

"You have to say it." Walter said levelly, staring Integra down.

"Yes…" the Master hissed, shifting his concentration to the other conflict. "Say it."

"…say it, Integra." The Doctor said reluctantly. There was no negotiating with Walter. The Angel of Death was as twisted and warped as any of the other monsters Sir Arthur Hellsing had commanded. Now it seemed that not even he had managed to keep Walter Dornez under control. The man was a force of nature.

Integra carefully lit a new cigar.

"SAY IT!" Walter yelled. "Speak, my Lady!"

Removing the cigar from her mouth, Integra crushed it between her fingers.

"Search and destroy! SEARCH AND DESTROY! Nothing has changed since I gave you those orders, servant. Destroy anyone who opposes us! Obliterate all obstacles in our way! No matter who it is! No matter what it is! No matter-" her voice broke briefly. "-who… it is.

Alucard stood.

"Yes, my master."

"Wonderful!" Walter shouted, genuinely pleased. "You were indeed a master worthy of the service I granted you!"

"I will ask no more about what happened," Integra stated coldly. "You are my enemy now. Hellsing's enemy. Britain's enemy. That's all you are now! I must defeat you. I must destroy you."

"Well said, Integra Fairbrook Wingates Hellsing!"

The _Deus ex Machina _droned overhead as the Major's voice blared over the airship's loudspeakers. It scraped the rooftops as it descended in what appeared to be an intentional crash-landing.

"I must apologize for ever calling you an amateur. I won't be saying zhat again! You have finally become my enemy: My lovely, precious, hugely powerful arch-enemy whom I must defeat at all costs."

The massive zeppelin came to rest at last, demolishing the last of Trafalgar Square's monuments and wedging itself at the end of a devastated street a block away, its belly scraping deafeningly against the pavement.

The massive bay doors unfolded, presenting two ramps that led up into the airship's cavernous hold.

"Fate has dealt ze cards… Now come! I Call your hand!"

Schrodinger stood at the apex of the two ramps to welcome the Major's guest aboard.

„Das Dritte Reich heißt Sie herzlich willkommen!" He declared, sweeping his arm out in an elaborate bow.

Integra wordlessly turned away from Alucard and Walter and began walking toward the airship.

"Go!" Alucard said. "You should go… Go and kill him. Go and end it all."

"Master?" Seras asked, clearly confused about where she should be.

"Go, Seras." He replied, turning to his protégé. "Our master needs a guard. End the Major's long, 55-year-old dream. The dawn will soon come. I shall end the long night with this man." He returned his view to Walter.

"Walter!" Seras called to the black-clad butler. "Um, this may sound strange, but… Well… Thanks for everything! And- Take care."

Walter straightened in genuine surprise. His mouth curved in a slight smile.

"You too." he said. Not everything had been a lie.

Seras hurried up the ramp at Integra's call. The head of Hellsing produced a sword she had looted from a fallen SS Officer, and drew it as she ascended.

"Farewell, Walter," She called. "Farewell… and die."

Schrodinger smiled as the two women entered the zeppelin's hold.

"Velcome aboard, ladies-"

Integra shot him in the head.

* * *

After watching Integra and Seras disappear into the bowels of the airship, the Doctor and the Master returned their gaze to Jack. Alucard faced off against Walter a distance away, while Anderson was still attempting to calm Heinkel from her suicidal rage.

"The Master's right, Jack!" The Doctor appealed. "Millennium is finished. The Major's insane, and inviting his own destruction. Whatever's been done to you, it can be reversed!"

Jack laughed. It was a sick, twisted imitation of his usual good-humour. "How can you possibly know that?! And what makes you think I want to change back to that clown?" He spread his arms, presenting himself like a showman.

"I've lived through more than a hundred years of history, and experienced countless different periods through time travel. Walter is right. Human history is just a carnage-filled nightmare. I can never die, and so am bound to this blood-soaked universe forever; walking the slow path."

"Better to be a perpetrator of violence than a continual victim of it. There's no protecting the weak, no defending the innocent. All will meet their deaths eventually… All except me."

"Old as you are, Doctor, you've never accepted this simple truth because you never stay. You never watch the things precious to you wither and fade with age. You childishly refuse to say goodbye and fly away in your TARDIS to form new friendships, never learning from your mistake: There is no escaping death. There is no escaping time. Everything has it's time, Doctor, and everything dies."

"He figured it out early on." Jack continued, nodding to the Master, "and it took Millennium's wholehearted embrace of death to make me see the truth."

He pointed at the Doctor, smirking darkly.

"And I'll hear you admit it… before I take your life."

The Master privately reflected on the irony of having the fearsome effectiveness of his brainwashing techniques come back to bite him like this.

He hoped not literally.

"Jack." The Doctor's tone was weary. He knew that there was almost no chance to avoid what was about to happen. Jack had been in Millennium and the Master's hands for too long. "If there's anything left of the man you once were-"

Jack drew both of his long-barrelled pistols in a smooth, supernaturally fast motion and shot the Doctor through both hearts.

* * *

**Author's Notes: The Rassilon Stakes are my own invention; an explanation for the Nail's powers and a link to Time Lord history that ultimately allows the Doctor to save Anderson's life.**

**The mentions of the Moment and what the Doctor had become during the Time War are references to ****_The Day of the Doctor_**** (2013).**

**The Second Doctor possessed a remote control for the TARDIS, and other Time Lords (such as The Rani) controlled theirs remotely in later years.**


	14. Ch 12: Werewolves of London

**Chapter 12: Werewolves of London**

Time seemed to stop as the Doctor fell. The Master was suddenly hyper-aware of everything around him. The slight haze dust and ash still settling in the air. The steely glint on the barrels of Jack Harkness' modified Webleys. The slight shifting noises that Alucard and Walter's clothes made as they charged at each other across the street, appearing to move in slow-motion to the Master; their combat initiated by the startling report of the twin pistol rounds. The way the blood spraying from the Doctor's mouth split apart into droplets before reforming and arcing down his front in a bright-red waterfall as he pitched backwards…

The Master moved, barely conscious, a wordless scream on his lips as he drew his laser screwdriver, charging heedlessly at the monster he'd created. He watched as Jack shifted aim, sweeping the barrels of his weapons over to the Master like the inexorably swivelling turret of a battleship.

On some level, the Master knew that there was no way he would be able to aim and fire his weapon before Harkness could cock back the hammers of his revolvers and shoot again.

On another level, he didn't care. Both of the Doctor's hearts had been pierced. He would be dead before he hit the ground. He was likely dead already. It was a death too quick for him to be saved by regeneration.

What was the point of ruling the universe-

No, what was the point of the universe if there was no Doctor in it?

There was a sudden flash of blue-white light and a clash of steel meeting steel, followed quickly by two gunshots.

Anderson stood between the Master and Jack, bayonets in hand. He had deflected the turncoat's shots at the last second by knocking his aim off with a swing of his blades. Ordinarily the blessed sword-bayonets would have sheared off the pistols' steel barrels entirely, destroying them, but these held fast against Anderson's weapons. The glowing writing on the pistol barrels was not the same as the holy script which shone from the priest's bayonets, nor did they share the infernal light of Alucard's abilities. Runes were inscribed in ornate, spiralling pattern all over the guns. They glowed black. They appeared shamanic in origin, like ancient pagan symbols. Sparks flew as the gun-barrels and the sword-blades ground against each other, the two men straining with exertion, locked together by their weapons.

"Go!" Anderson growled through gritted teeth. "He's immortal and you're not!"

The Master blinked in confusion, his rage diminishing.

"Why?" he asked simply.

"I'm repaying a favour. I might not even have made it to Alucard without your help." Anderson explained.

"We fought: He won." He admitted. "Someday we'll fight again… but not today. As I am, I can't beat him. As we are, Iscariot can't beat him…"

Anderson locked eyes with Jack, who was glaring at the priest with dead, shark-like eyes. His face was once again an expressionless mask.

"But this monster… maybe we can beat."

Iscariot Paladins revealed themselves everywhere along the street, emerging from the rubble and training their weapons on Jack, ready to pepper him with bullets the moment he attempted to break off from melee combat with Anderson. Heinkel was perched on top of a large chunk of masonry, carefully aiming down the sights of a semi-automatic rifle. Her face was ruined. The Captain's bullet had ensured that she would wear a nightmarish grimace for the rest of her life. She had been heavily bandaged to stem the blood loss, but the pain must still have been unimaginable.

"I don't know where your loyalties lie, stranger, but Millennium's marked you for an enemy." Anderson continued, still staring Harkness down. "We still share a foe… and I've got a feeling Integra will need your help in that lion's den she's just walked into."

The Master took stock.

Alucard had Walter contained, if the hellish noises and the sound of collapsing buildings a few blocks away were any indication.

Not even Heinkel was insane enough to want to get into the middle of that fight.

More important was the detail he noticed as his eyes passed over the area where the Doctor's body had fallen. The Doctor was no longer there. A trail of blood led from the place he had fallen down the street and around a corner. The trail headed in the direction of the chaotic sounds of combat produced by Alucard's battle with the Hellsing butler. The Doctor had apparently dragged himself away while everyone's attention was on Harkness.

_Not so dead after all… But headed for the vampire? Why-_

_Oh._

_Seems like I wasn't the only one who paid attention in the Academy!_

The Master began laughing as he stared at the blood-streaked pavement, throwing his head back as the sounds of his mirth echoed through the dawn-lit street.

"She most certainly will, my Catholic friend!"

The time lord began running to the crashed airship down the street, away from the Iscariots and their chosen prey.

"I leave the freak to you…" he called behind him as he disappeared into the darkness of the zeppelin's hold.

Jack spoke after he was finally left alone with the paladins, his guns still locked against Anderson's bayonets.

"I hope you realize that for you and your boyfriend's entire conversation, I was just being polite by not pointing out that at any time I wanted to, I could break your guard like it was nothing."

"Is that so?"

Jack briefly, effortlessly increased the pressure he was placing on Anderson's weapons, forcing him to take a step back.

"Yes."

A manic glint entered Jack's eyes. "You and the rest of your men die here. Now. At my hands."

"If you really are the one to kill me… If this really is the end… Then I suppose there's only one thing left to say."

"What's that?"

"…Heinkel."

The high-calibre rifle round shattered Jack's left arm just below the elbow. Before Jack could do anything but grunt, Anderson swung down the tip of his right bayonet and speared him through the chest. Simultaneously, Jack abandoned the lock his right pistol held with Anderson's other bayonet, bringing the muzzle up to under Anderson's chin. Anderson's second blade, now also free, stabbed into the other side of Jack's chest as he fired. Jack's bullet exploded out of the back of Anderson's head as he fell, skewered by the priest's blessed blades. Anderson's limp form fell with him, the two men landing motionless on their backs in the middle of the ruined street.

A single second passed before the pair jolted back to life again, the trademark golden light of time lord technology healing Anderson's gunshot wound in moments. The bayonets in Jack's chest removed themselves from his body as his flesh healed around them, pushing the blades out and sending them clattering across the pavement. The two men sprang to their feet, Anderson summoning two new bayonets, and Jack snatching up his pistols from the ground, his arm now healed. The weapons of the Iscariot agent and the Millennium immortal were once again levelled at each other.

Jack sighed in annoyance.

"This could take a while."

* * *

Explosions rang through the interior of the _Deus ex Machina_, bursting outward from the ship's armour plating as Seras ripped through the ship's innards, destroying vital systems as she went. The Master helped where he could; having had a good deal of time to familiarize himself with the airship's design. He directed Seras; informing her of where to go, what to break, and in what order.

The trio's efficient wave of destruction continued on its way to the bridge, encountering several disorganized, barely-armed groups of Millennium soldiers as they went. They all fell quickly to the power of Seras' shadow arm, the swift strikes of Integra's blade, and the fatally-precise beams from the Master's laser screwdriver.

Every one of them died smiling.

"Of course." Integra remarked. "That's why they came here."

"If you want to die so much- If you want to die so badly- Then hang a rope, tie a noose, and stick your neck in it!" Seras shouted to the world, still filled with the energy of combat. "You should have all just hung yourselves fifty years ago!"

The ship intercom squealed into life with an annoying, high-pitched whine of feedback. The Master made a mental note to point Seras in the direction of Internal Communications as soon as possible.

"Zhat just wouldn't do, my dear Fraulein." An equally annoying, high-pitched sound declared over the hallway's speakers.

"Simply dying vouldn't satisfy us at all. No, we've sunk far too low for just zhat! Humanity has deemed our existence unnecessary. Humanity is trying to rid us from its collective memory. But ve are still necessary to our own selves. And a simplistic death would not suit us. Zhat would be simply unbearable. Ve need something more, something more, in order for us to die. More... More! MORE!"

"Zhat is why we've come here. Zhat is the reason for our return: Because zhere must always be something more. Zhere must be further battlefields to fight on! Zhere must be further enemies to fight! The universe is vast… filled with hidden dangers und wondrous experiences! Overflowing with strife and ze smell of warfare!"

"I am positive beyond a doubt zhat a battlefield worthy of sustaining our fervour must exist somewhere in the universe; somevhere out among the stars… For us to die, we need something more! Something more is required. We must march on endlessly until we find it: Just so zhat we can die!"

"Therefore, you are precious. You are worthy. You are wonderful! Royal Order of Protestant Knights: Hellsing! You make our deaths worthwhile, because you are worthwhile for us to kill-"

Three blasts of amber laser-light shot from the Master's screwdriver in quick succession, destroying each of the speakers in the narrow metal hallway.

"He does drone on, doesn't he?"

"You seemed to like his company well enough before, time lord." Integra said shortly as the group began moving again.

"Hehe, yes." The Master laughed as he reminisced briefly. "Too much of a good thing, maybe?"

"I'm still not clear on why you've switched sides… Or why you claim to have switched sides, anyways."

"Simply put: Alucard. As long as he guards the Doctor's TARDIS, there's no way I can take it from him. I've lived long enough to recognize a lost cause when I see one, and from what I've seen tonight, fighting Alucard definitely qualifies. I've died enough times due to my own overconfidence…"

Doing her best to ignore the seeming inanity of the Master's last statement, Seras spoke up.

"So when you said that this whole war was just a test for your 'new body'-"

"An oversimplification, Ms. Victoria. I would have followed the Major on his amusing little diversion for much longer, and would still be fighting for him now… If I had a chance at getting the Doctor's TARDIS."

"And the TARDIS is?"

"His time machine- You really are new to this aren't you? With it, I could have taken the Last Battalion anywhere. That's what his 'out among the stars' blather was about… But he never told me his true plan: To self-destruct himself and Millennium in an effort to achieve his true objective."

"You mean he isn't just out to die?"

"Certainly not, Ms. Victoria. He is undoubtedly mad, but still intelligent enough to use his insanity to mask his true goal from almost everyone."

"Which is?"

The Master raised an eyebrow and turned to Seras as he continued to walk, talking to her as a teacher talks to a student.

"You really can't guess what it might be? The Major's one driving obsession, apart from the pursuit of unending war? The being that's been the centre of his thoughts and his plots for over fifty years?"

Integra stopped her march suddenly, prompting Seras and the Master to stop as well. The trio had reached the end of the main hallway; it now forked into two passageways. Standing at the fork was the Captain, appearing the same as he had for the entire battle; the same as he had for the last sixty years.

Seras crouched slightly, her face hardening as she met the towering man's neutral stare.

"Sir Integra, please go on ahead."

"Seras-" Integra began.

"Hurry!" The rage Seras had felt during combat with the grinning, laughing Millennium soldiers had returned in full force. "Go to the Major. That man… mustn't be allowed to speak anymore! Not a single word!"

Integra spoke again after a measured pause.

"…Don't die, Seras." She casually put another cigar in her mouth and lit the end. "I will not allow it: I simply won't permit it."

"Yes, good luck, Ms. Victoria." The Master spoke brusquely. "Now we'll just be-"

He was stopped in his attempt to walk forward by Integra's outstretched arm.

"You stay, too."

"Me? Why? I can't fight on their level."

"I know. But no one in their right mind would ever trust you enough to walk alone with you down the dark, vampire-infested halls of an enemy stronghold. If Seras stays, you stay."

The Master glared at Integra for a moment, measuring her resolve. For centuries, beings across time and space had quailed under the strength of the Master's gaze. He was a consummate hypnotist in the purest sense. He operated by commanding others; by conquering their wills with his own.

This would not be possible with Integra.

Smiling thinly, the Master stepped back to rejoin Seras. "I can see why the Vampire swore himself to your service, Sir Integra. Good hunting."

As Integra made ready to continue, the Captain raised an arm, pointing mutely to a small sign on the wall. It read 'Hauptquartier' with an arrow underneath indicating the right fork.

_Aren't you an honest lapdog?_ Integra thought. She paced ahead, stopping just in front of the Captain, who continued to stare at her blankly.

"Much obliged." She said. It was a classic display of English courtesy rendered completely insane by the context. Integra then moved on, disappearing down the dark hallway, her shoes clanking on the deck-plates.

The fire spreading through the zeppelin continued to burn, bursting through seams and cracks in the hallway to illuminate the scene with a hellish orange glow as Seras and the Captain faced off, the Master standing cautiously behind her.

Seras kick-flipped two discarded MG42s from the deck to her hands; effortlessly wielding the two general-purpose machine guns, preparing for combat.

The Captain flexed his right hand as it hovered just above his holstered pistol.

Not allowing the tension to build any longer, the Master drew his laser screwdriver and began blazing away at the Captain, using Seras for cover. Seras' vampire reflexes kicked in, and she opened fire simultaneously to the Master, the Captain responding in kind.

The Master soon lost track of the combat, the hail of bullets and torrent of noise overwhelming him. Seras and the Captain moved too quickly for him to follow, and sheer self-preservation made him drop to the ground covering his head as the two titans battled.

_This is so stupid!_ He thought angrily. _Why did I ever think it was a good idea to go to the front lines armed with nothing but a screwdriver?!_

The gunshots eventually ceased, and the Master heard a sharp gasp from his side. Daring to un-shield his face slightly, the Master saw that Seras' shadow arm was attempting to grapple the Captain, who had at some point lost his coat…

But he was growing a new one.

A white aura of wispy, smoke-like energy was extending from the Captain's back as he crouched at the end of the hall, passively repelling Seras' attack. He stood, revealing a half-transformed face. Luminescent strands of white fur waved like thousands of tiny flames from the Captain's left side. His mouth hung open as a deep growl rumbled its way up from his chest, his jaws now lined with curved, dagger-like, pointed teeth. His left eye was still red, but glowed like a far-away star; otherworldly, ancient, and terrifying… Half flesh and half spirit.

Half man and half wolf.

* * *

Jack grimaced as he pulled the last of the bayonets from his torso; they joined the growing pile on the ground around him. Anderson stood across from him, panting heavily and out of breath. The golden particles of vortex energy were closing the multiple bullet wounds on the priest's body.

"Had enough?" Anderson asked arrogantly. The two men had been locked in stalemate since the combat began. Not even the occasional assistance Anderson's reinforcements could provide kept the former Torchwood operative down for more than a second or two.

"As a matter of fact, father… I have."

Shedding his black leather duster in a smooth motion, Jack grinned widely, bowing his head in concentration. Shimmering black energy like a myriad of small candle-flames spread from his head down his back, spreading across his body as his face began to shift and transform.

It hadn't just been the Doktor's agonizing experiments and the Master's brainwashing that had changed Jack Harkness into the monster he had become. The Captain's bite had ensured that Jack would never be a victim again. As he lived endlessly, he would now hunt endlessly, driven to fight, to hunt down and destroy prey.

It was the overpowering instincts of a Werewolf which, in the end, had consumed the last of Jack Harkness' mind.

* * *

_Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!_

The Master berated himself as the gigantic form of the Captain's full-wolf body filled the hallway; deck-plates tearing and crumpling under his paws in the presence of the creature's sheer power. Only the beast's head seemed to be fully materialised, the rest of his four-metre length was still surrounded by the white aura of distortion; making it seem like the bulk of the monster was still located… somewhere else.

The Captain contorted sinuously, letting out a spine-chilling howl before lunging at Seras, snapping at her with jaws filled with razor-sharp teeth the size of her head. His shifting, ghostly body spiralled through the length of the passage like a horizontal tornado, knocking the young vampire off her feet, the force of his attack sending her ricocheting down the hallway, leaving crumpled craters in the steel walls, floor, and ceiling.

As he ran down the hallway toward Seras (and more importantly, away from the Captain), the Master's mind worked at a breakneck pace.

_Werewolves: Strengths and weaknesses as diverse as the spawn of the Great Vampires. Variants live across time and space. An infection spread by a bite or by a curse, transformation by moonlight or by choice, aversion to silver and certain herbs …sometimes… and a connection to spirits and the immaterial: A state of in-between. No solid information on them exists! They have no single origin-point. What kills one might do nothing against another…_

Seras coughed blood, barely able to return to her senses before the Captain's body returned to the size of a normal wolf, the better to agilely run along the walls and ceiling, barrelling towards Seras and the Master with frightening speed, leaving a trail of ghostly wisps behind him like trails of white smoke.

The Captain bore down on the pair, changing back into humanoid form. He still glowed with fiery white energy, and his head remained that of a wolf. His downward kick, aimed into Seras' gut, carried enough force to rip through the floor of the passage entirely, launching the two of them downwards into the zeppelin's hold. The Master scrabbled for a handhold to avoid falling to his death, but the deck collapsed underneath him, finally giving way entirely, and he plummeted after the pair into the darkness.

* * *

**Author's Notes: I couldn't resist the Inglorious Basterds shout-out. If Kouta Hirano can work a ton of references to his favourite action movies into what he writes, then so can I!**

**I will unashamedly admit that the Jack/Anderson fight is the sole reason I saved Anderson from dying in this fic.**

**"So what now, Jack Harkness? Are we to be two immortals locked in an epic battle until Judgment Day and trumpets sound? Hmm?"**

**"Or you could surrender."**

**I found myself loving the style of the interaction between the Master and Seras as they journey through the airship. Very much like the pedagogical question-and-answer between a Time Lord and his companion...**

**But who are we kidding? She'll be Integra's forever.**

**Werewolves have appeared in many different Doctor Who media. Unlike with vampires, there has never been a single unifying explanation for their varied appearances throughout time and space.**


	15. Ch 13: Victory

**Chapter 13: Victory**

"You made a very foolish gamble, Walter."

Alucard had changed into the form he had taken in 1944, just as Walter's rapidly-decaying un-dead vitality had left him with the body of a boy. They stood across from each other as internal explosions from the nearby zeppelin rocked the neighbourhood.

"Soon, all your cards will burn and crumble away, too. My master will kill your master. My comrades will kill your comrades. And I'm going to kill you." The vampire chuckled briefly. "What a cruel end for you… I have absolutely no interest in playing along with this match you've bet your life on." He declared with a flourish. "You're just a traitor. A mere traitor. Not once in my life have I forgiven even a single traitor. Did you think I would waste my time and fight you fair and square? No, your death shall be quick. Besides… I'm hungry."

The seals on the backs of Alucard's hands glowed red as he gathered power to him. Blood oozed from them; blood calling to blood. He stuck out his tongue impishly and made a slurping noise; as confident as ever. He laughed richly, the sound echoing across London as the blood of countless millions of victims streamed from scattered corpses. It pooled together into streams and rivers, arrows of sanguine power washing relentlessly through the streets.

Continuing to laugh, Alucard spun in a morbid imitation of girlish glee as the crest of the immeasurable tidal wave of blood reached him.

"My, my, I don't know if even I can consume all of this!"

"Alucard…" A weak voice spoke hoarsely from his feet.

Looking away from the powerless Walter, Alucard glanced down to where the Doctor lay. His face was pale and his chest was painted with blood; it still oozed from a single devastating wound to his chest. Reaching inside his suit jacket, the Doctor removed a portion of Kevlar armour he had looted from the _Eagle_. It had protected his second heart.

"The plan, Count… It has to be now."

The Vampire King stared down at the fallen Time Lord, an uncertain expression on his face.

"Believe me, I don't want to go-"

Alucard seized the Doctor in blood-fuelled frenzy and sank his fangs into the Gallifreyan's neck.

* * *

Anderson was knocked into a pile of rubble, concrete breaking under the impact. His shattered bones re-knitted in a flash. Springing back to his feet, the priest winced. This battle was taxing his newly-bolstered healing abilities to the limits.

Before him stood Jack Harkness, transformed into a hulking, four-metre long black wolf. The air around its body rippled and distorted like the air above a road on a hot summer's day. The werewolf's body was like a living shadow that smoked and roiled; only becoming material to attack with its razor-sharp teeth or dagger-like claws.

The Iscariot Paladins had immediately loaded their weapons with silver bullets and blazed away at the creature. Avoiding hitting Anderson was no longer a priority. By all indications, this was a fully mature werewolf in total control of its transformations; there were few opponents more dangerous.

Even in the rare instances when the bullets managed to hit a solid portion of Harkness' constantly-transforming body, the wolf-man had died only to spring back to life a moment later to continue mauling Anderson.

Jack's continued and increasingly violent efforts to overcome Anderson's healing ability, painful as they were, were actually a blessing in disguise. Anderson knew that if he lost the werewolf's attention for a single second, Iscariot could be totally destroyed in moments, its last survivors ripped limb-from-limb by this undying beast.

Anderson once again summoned his blades to him, knowing that they would be powerless against his enemy's wraith-like form and seeming invincibility. As he did so, there was a deep, almost subsonic sound of impact from blocks away. It sounded like a muffled explosion. It was accompanied by a pillar of golden light rocketing into the morning sky. It was the same light that appeared to heal Anderson's wounds whenever he was injured. The pillar branched and split into eleven different comet-like trails which arced over the rooftops, altering their course as they went, plummeting toward where Anderson and Jack were facing off. The priest and the wolf were both staring at the spectacular sight as each of the golden shapes touched down along a nearby rooftop. They resolved themselves into the shapes of men, each still glowing with their own light.

An old man with shoulder-length hair, dressed in Edwardian fashion.

A bow-tie wearing man with a rumpled bowl-cut.

A man with curly hair, dressed ornately in a frilled shirt and velvet smoking jacket.

An unkempt man with a bohemian look, wearing a large fedora and a ridiculously long knitted scarf.

A younger man in a long coat and cricket whites.

A clownish figure in an outlandish, multi-coloured coat.

A man in a panama hat and a safari jacket, question marks standing out from his pullover.

A younger man dressed in a Victorian style.

The ninth figure began to resolve, but was stopped by the gestures of the two Doctors after him, causing his shining avatar to fizzle out. He would not be permitted to appear.

A man with close-cropped hair wearing a plain leather jacket was next in line, before the familiar visage of the Time Lord's most recent identity.

The Ten Doctors had assembled.

As one they wordlessly dove from the roof, sending Anderson and the paladins running for cover. Jack bared his teeth at the ten men streaking towards him like missiles, taking on the guise of a wolf-like humanoid, howling his defiance.

The regeneration of a Time Lord entails the use of untold amounts of energy. Depending on the regeneration, this energy can be highly potent or destructive in nature. It makes the Time Lord nigh-invulnerable for a short period and boosts their natural reserves of energy and vitality to ludicrous extremes, temporarily granting them the approximate power of walking nuclear reactors.

So when ten Time Lords, fully charged with regeneration energy, descended on Jack Harkness, it wasn't necessary for them to throw a single punch.

The city quaked as ten massive explosions devastated the street, collapsing the remaining buildings around the point of impact and driving a massive crater into the ground. The multiple coronas of golden energy were visible for miles.

* * *

The Master's vision slowly returned as he blinked awake. The fall was a hard one, even for his time lord constitution. The first sensation he was sure of was the discomfort inflicted on him by whatever he had fallen on. Grasping a handful of the strange substance, his blurred vision finally resolved as he gazed at what it was he was holding.

_Gold coins?_

The Master was perched on top of a mountain of treasure. Gold bars, jewellery, and assorted banknotes from a half-dozen countries littered the area around him in a massive pile.

Before he could grasp this, a wet thud issued from behind him, elsewhere in the darkened hold. Turning, he saw the female vampire, her teeth latched onto the Captain's leg. He had returned to human form. A familiar had emerged from the mass of shadows on her left side, and had just punched his closed fist through the Captain's heart.

_The familiar must have picked up a silver item from the Deus ex Machina's treasure vaults. It seems strange that the Captain would lead the fight here; his tactics have been completely flawless up 'til now…_

"That's for touching another man's woman." The familiar said in a French-accented voice.

The Captain fell to his knees, blood gushing from the gaping hole in his chest. It did not heal.

The familiar retreated back into the vampire's shadow.

"Goodbye, war dog."

The Master slid down from his perch in a shower of coins and trinkets, looking concernedly at the Captain's face. A broad smile now spread over it as the werewolf died. His eyes closed with mirth and his mouth hung open in a frozen, joyful laugh as the blue flames of the Millennium microchip's self-destruct function immolated his body.

A final, lingering howl issued from him as he burned to ash; silent no more. The flames billowed as his spirit was finally released in death, separating from his material body completely at long last.

_Never showing any expression. Never questioning his orders, always obeying to the letter…_ The Master pondered as Seras also became lost in thought.

_He was a werewolf in full control of his transformations; no wonder he always in full control of himself. For the last fifty years he dedicated himself to the one thing he truly desired: Death. An ancient creature… with nothing left to say. _

The Master shuddered, vowing to never let this man's fate become his. Is this where the drumbeat would lead them all in the end?

"Mr. Bernadotte." Sears spoke aloud.

"Yes. You're right." The Frenchman replied from somewhere within her. "Let's go and end it all… No dream lasts forever." He finished cryptically.

Seras turned and began to walk into the darkness, searching for a way to the bridge.

"Wait, Ms. Victoria!" The Master called, jogging after her, still trying to shake residual coins and jewels from the folds of his clothing. "I know a shortcut!"

* * *

The smoke cleared slowly from the massive crater that had been dug into the London streets. It had punched into the Underground tunnels and utilities infrastructure beneath the city. If the water mains hadn't long ago failed as a result of the attack, the pit would be flooded.

Iscariot paladins ringed the edge of the crater, watching as a nude figure covered Harkness' body with his coat. Lingering for a moment, the man then scaled the slope of the crater, climbing effortlessly to the top.

The man had long, dark hair. Green eyes were set in a soft-featured face which bore a fairly large chin and prominent ears. He stood before Anderson, his expression dark and sombre.

"Doctor?" Anderson asked tentatively, at a complete loss. "Is that you-"

The Doctor embraced Anderson in a bone-crushing hug before he could finish speaking, smiling and laughing as he replied.

"Yes! Yes, that's right! I'm the Doctor!"

Anderson shoved the naked man off of himself, still uncomprehending.

"But- you changed! Who were those other men?! What happened?!"

The Doctor saw the same look of utter confusion on the faces of every Iscariot agent around him.

"They were other 'me's'." He explained unhelpfully. "My people have the capacity to heal themselves when faced with death; through the same process you do. We have to change identities, though, and gain a whole new body; become a new man."

"A Time Lord's regeneration is a fixed point in time. It can't be altered or affected by the wibbly-wobbly nature of the time-stream around it." The Doctor continued, talking a mile a minute. "Jack was also a fixed point in time. It was set as a fundamental law of the universe that 'Jack Harkness Is Alive'. He could not be killed… unless I made one of his 'deaths' a part of the events of my regeneration. Then it would be a fixed point in time that Jack Harkness dies here and now, overriding the old universal law… or tearing the time vortex apart due to the paradox."

The Doctor thought briefly of Schrodinger. _Dead and alive at the same time…_

"I could only fight on his level by regenerating."

"But that power." Anderson interrupted, grasping almost none of what the Doctor had explained. "How did you achieve that?"

"Time Lords have been fighting vampires since we became Time Lords. The first step to beating them was to neutralize their most trademark weapon: Their bite. If a Time Lord ever died to a vampire's bite and became consumed, then all the lives that made up their existence would become owned by that vampire, granting him… immeasurable power."

The Doctor looked highly disturbed at the thought.

"So every Time Lord was equipped with a defence mechanism; it would respond automatically to a fatal vampire bite by accessing the energy of all a Time Lord's previous regenerations through our intrinsic link with the Vortex. The theory was that a Time Lord would then use his multiple lives to counter the vampire's familiars and destroy him forever, making his death a part of that regeneration."

"I planned this with Alucard as a last resort; as a trump card to use in case Millennium had something up its sleeve that not even he could take down."

He looked back into the crater, and at the shrouded body lying there.

"I never thought I'd have to use it against Jack, but I'm glad I had it as a final option. It's literally the only thing that could have stopped him."

The Doctor's eyes remained fixed on the still body for a moment, imagining the dark future that would have resulted had Jack not been stopped here on Earth.

_An eternal hunt across all time and space. Everything and everyone eventually coming to be consumed by the mathematical fact of Jack Harkness; like a living black hole… I mourn a friend and bury a monster._

"So this was the reason you resurrected me? To keep Harkness busy until you could destroy him?"

"Oh, Anderson." The Doctor said good-naturedly as the priest's mood darkened. "You need to stop thinking of yourself like a weapon. You're human! And that's fantastic. The events of the last few hours should have taught you that. You were only truly defeated when you gave up being human. I brought you back so that you'd have a chance to learn from your mistake… And not pay for it forever like Alucard will."

The Doctor was struck by the realization that he felt none of the usual negative side-effects of regeneration. There was no excess energy build-up, confusion, or memory loss. He was fully able and sure of himself from the moment of his transformation: One more benefit of the Manifold Regeneration Technique.

_I suppose Rassilon wanted his soldiers to be fighting fit as soon as their regenerations completed; immediately ready to kill more vampires._

A further realization struck as a cold wind blew along the devastated street, sharply directing the Doctor's attention to something that he had been unaware of until now.

"Anderson?"

"Yes, Doctor?"

"Am I… naked?"

"Extremely."

"Right." The Doctor rubbed his hands together, looking around distractedly. "I should go and… fix that. And you lot!" He turned to the remaining paladins, raising his voice to address them. "You should all be on your way home! The world's going to need a lot of cleaning up after this; they'll look to vampire-hunting experts like you for guidance."

"Ve can't jus' leave!" Heinkel shouted, her voice garbled as she spoke through what was left of her face. "Ze Hellsing butler may still live! Yumie-"

"Yumie would want us to do what's best for Iscariot!" Anderson declared. "To do what's best for Christendom. If the butler still lives, he's on the verge of being obliterated by Alucard. Personally… I can think of no worse fate."

"And beyond any of that… I've had enough; enough of Alucard, enough of Millennium, enough of Hellsing, enough of aliens, and enough of Britain!"

"It's long past time we recognized this as a British affair. This has all been the Protestants' unfinished business. We should never have gotten involved."

"We will not repeat Maxwell's mistake. We return to the Vatican. Now."

The Doctor's concern disappeared as a strange premonition flickered into his thoughts; barely an echo. It seems that this soon after his regeneration, he still had a slight connection with the Time Vortex.

_So… Walter still has a part to play…_

"Until we meet again, Anderson." The Doctor shook the priest's hand briskly and sprinted across the street to the ruins of a nearby department store.

As the paladins made ready to leave, no-one noticed Heinkel quietly disappear.

* * *

Integra walked through the quiet metal hallway, flanked by Seras and the Master, who had rejoined her using the Master's shortcut. The multiple redundant bulkheads protecting the bridge opened smoothly and automatically as the trio marched on.

Finally, the last barrier opened, revealing the _Deus ex Machina_'s command centre. The schematics and maps that covered the floor-to-ceiling screens had been partially shattered, leaving the room in disarray. The Major sat quietly in his articulated chair, facing away from the three of them. The four were alone in the room.

"Major!" Integra called, approaching the chair.

The chair wheeled around, the Major looking up at her pleasantly.

"Oh! I'm most pleased to finally have ze honour of meeting you in person." The smile never left his face.

The first bullet left Integra's gun slightly before the Major finished talking. Seras and the Master soon followed suit, him firing at the Major with a smirk, and her blasting at him with a salvaged Waffen-SS anti-tank rifle.

Every round, shell, and blast of laser light rebounded off of an invisible barrier inches in front of the Major. The AT rounds left small craters behind, and the Master's screwdriver scorched the surface black, but nothing got through to the grinning mastermind.

"Unfortunately, you can't kill me with zose weapons. Just consider it ze prudence of a leader."

Integra emptied her gun's magazine, and drew her sword, stabbing at the barrier in frustration. The sword-blade shattered on contact.

The Master played the beam of his screwdriver over the barrier's surface, scanning it. He scowled at the reading and resignedly placed the device back in his coat.

"A transparent polycarbide barrier."

The Major rose from his seat and walked over to where Integra stood, placing himself exactly across from where she stood on the other side of the barrier.

"I vas worried you might be late for zis performance. This show is one night only, you see. I should be watching it from ze best seats in the house with a pretty lady at my side."

He turned to walk back to his chair. Integra's rage was beyond anything that the Master had seen her express before, and even put Seras' bloodthirsty visage to shame.

"Don't fuck with me!" She shouted.

The Major lowered himself into his plush armchair.

"Sit back und enjoy the show."

Producing a remote control, he pressed a button, causing the intact screens around the room to flash to life, showing a massive composite view of Alucard, now in the form of a young girl in a white suit. Oceans of blood swirled around him, disappearing into his body as he rebuilt his kingdom soul by soul.

"Zis is a play that is performed for only one night every hundred years. A story not told since 1898!"

The three stared at the screens, a chilling note of foreboding entering their minds.

"Ze vampire Alucard… is going to disappear."

Integra rounded on the Major, fear shaking her voice.

"What?!"

* * *

Far across the city, in a lonely bell-tower high above the torrential rush of blood, stood Schrodinger.

He had been listening as this 'new' Doctor explained how he beat Captain Harkness. The concept of a 'fixed point in time and space' fascinated him. It was so opposed to his own nature… At least now he understood why he couldn't be anywhere else while the Master held him during his own regeneration. But there was nothing like that to stop him now…

From behind his back, he drew an SS Dagger, the motto 'Meine Ehre heißt Treue' engraved on the blade.

_My honour is loyalty._

Smiling thinly, the boy brought the blade up to his neck and unhesitatingly drew it across his throat from ear to ear. Schrodinger giggled as his arm continued its strike, lopping his head from his shoulders entirely. The Warrant Officer's headless body tumbled down off of its perch, his smiling head spinning through the air next to it. Both pieces dived underneath the surface of the fast-flowing crimson river, Schrodinger's blood draining into the mass, mingling with the essence of millions of others.

* * *

Alucard continued to laugh richly as the power flowed into him, joking with Walter as he exulted in the rush of strength he was experiencing.

"Shall we begin, Walter?" He asked teasingly, striking a coquettish pose.

"Not yet." Walter said as he continued to bleed on the street, barely able to gather his monofilament strands in his hands. "My score with you isn't settled yet- It's not finished! Major… stop it-" He appealed to his absent master.

"Make him stop, Major!"

* * *

"No, it's settled." The Major stated casually. "You're too late."

* * *

"It's too late for anything now." Dok grinned as he paced through the _Deus ex Machina_'s darkened hallways.

* * *

"You're too late, idiot!" Alucard declared boastfully, continuing to taunt Walter as he harvested the last of London's dead.

Walter's last, desperate attack sliced Alucard's body vertically in half from his breastbone through to the top of his head. The vampire's ecstatic grin never faltered.

* * *

"It's all too late-" the Major began, but was interrupted by an eerie grinding, wheezing groan. The deck-plates trembled and the image on the screens flickered as the TARDIS materialized. It appeared on the same side of the polycarbide barrier as Integra, Seras, and the Master. The doors opened. The figure standing between them was silhouetted by the bright light emanating from within the time machine.

"Hello all!" An unfamiliar voice spoke cheerily. "Hope I'm not too late."

The Doctor emerged from the TARDIS. He now wore a deep maroon tweed jacket, a dress shirt, a bow tie, braces, dark trousers and black boots.

"Doctor?!" Integra asked. She and Seras shared the same look of shock. The Master was dubiously looking the Doctor up and down.

The Major's smile faltered for only a split second before he returned his gaze to the screens.

"I'm afraid zat you are indeed too late, Time Lord."

"Alucard, Doctor…"

"You lose."

"I've won."

Alucard's body was dissolving on the screens. Thousands of eyes streamed out of his form like a macabre waterfall. He was losing himself piece by piece; fading to nothing.

_"Out, out, brief candle." _The Major quoted._ "Life's but a walking shadow."_

The Doctor and the Master gazed at the surreal scene, one beginning to understand, the other nodding as his suspicions were confirmed.

_"A poor player-"_ The Master continued the recitation, _"that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more."_

The Doctor looked at him sharply. The Master met his eyes with a sombre expression as he continued the nihilistic soliloquy. Yes. He could have prevented this. And yes- He wished he had.

_"It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying __nothing__."_

One by one, Alucard's eyes closed as his body faded, becoming amorphous.

He ceased to observe.

He stared for a moment at the closed eye on the palm of his hand. It was as if he couldn't recognise it.

"What's happening?!" Seras asked, her eyes wide and frightened as her master disappeared.

"What did you do?" Integra demanded of the Major, tearing her eyes away from the screens.

"Everything!" The Major declared proudly. "He drank in ze life of Warrant Officer Schrodinger. That, of course, means he absorbed Schrodinger's nature. He is a Schrodinger's Cat with a will of its own, able to observe itself. He is a 'Cheshire Cat' with a- slippery existence zhat jumps around a universe of probabilities. As long as he recognises his own existence, he is both everywhere and nowhere at ze same time."

"But now he has melted among millions of lives and consciousnesses. He can no longer be aware of his own existence…"

"So, vhat will happen? He is no longer anywhere. He is neither alive nor dead. Now Alucard is nothing more than a compilation of imaginary numbers…"

"Alucard!" Integra shouted at the screen as the vampire's usual face re-appeared. His face appeared confused, weary, and immeasurably sad. The eyes across his body continued to close, more and more of him fading away.

The Master had long suspected that Schrodinger was more than a mere 'court jester' for the Major. More than a mere spy, as well. An infiltrator could be created in many different ways, but to go this far? It was, in a way, similar to the quantum lock of the Weeping Angels, only inconceivably more powerful, as all that was required was for the boy to 'observe himself' somewhere else and he would be there. He could inhabit multiple, perhaps infinite, points of view at once and invalidate any injury, even fatal ones, by simply visualising himself as alive.

Now that that power spread throughout all of Alucard's new familiars, the vampire himself was lost. As a composite entity whose power and very existence were so bound up in the lives he had taken, Alucard could not visualize his existence; could not observe himself the way Schrodinger could as a singular entity. The 'poison' wouldn't kill him; it was too subtle for that. Alucard would simply disappear into the Void. He had no way to tie himself to the universe as there was no way of identifying 'Alucard' within the millions of individual lives he had drunk in.

It was the spectacular culmination of a plan which had taken fifty years to bring to fruition. The Master couldn't deny the sheer diabolical cunning behind it all… but there was still something profoundly sad about watching such a perfect monster just… fade away. He remembered the Captain and felt a further twinge of regret.

The same emotion was written all over the Doctor's face.

"Don't close your eyes!" Integra implored. Seras was speechless with panic; tears welling in her eyes.

"Open your eyes! Alucard!"

The vampire was nearly transparent now. The dawning sun shone through him as the last of his crimson eyes blinked shut; their lids heavy and drooping.

"That's an order, Alucard." Integra's hands were shaking as she witnessed something she thought to be impossible.

"Don't disappear!"

Alucard smiled sadly, bowing his head to the inevitable as the last vestiges of his kingdom released their hold on the world; his identity being washed away in a flood of quantum uncertainty.

"No, this is goodbye… Integra."

The Vampire King faded until nothing remained.

"ALUCARD!" Integra shouted.

The bridge erupted in flames as the massive damage to the zeppelin finally reached them. The fire burst from the floor-plates and shattered the remaining screens.

"I gave him everything I had, and he lost everything he was." The Major pronounced carefully as broken glass and debris rained down around him.

"I have lived for zis day. I have lived for just this single moment. In my war where I lost every battle, for ze first time, I've won…"

"Bastard!" Integra growled, glaring at the Major through the flames.

"I see… It's a nice feeling. So this… is victory."

The flames died down suddenly. The Major gazed neutrally through the barrier at the Doctor, the Master, Integra, and Seras.

"Right." The Doctor said with finality. He reached into his jacket pocket, producing a new sonic screwdriver. The end-piece glowed green and it droned threateningly as he pointed it directly at the Major.

_No, not the Major… the barrier!_ The Master realized.

The precise harmonic vibrations produced by the screwdriver rattled the invisible wall sharply, amping up the stress on the material astronomically over the course of a single second. The entire barrier shattered at once, sending more debris crashing to the floor, and leaving the Major completely unprotected.

"Sonic screwdriver." The Doctor declared, twirling the device deftly in his hand. "Who'd have laser? And for my next trick-"

Now he aimed the screwdriver at the Major, the drone of the device increasing in pitch. The look of grim determination never left the Doctor's face.

The Major looked like he was about to speak, but then twitched oddly in his seat. He began spasming and seizing in the chair as the Doctor kept up the sonic assault, soon tumbling completely out of it. All his limbs seized up and then went limp a final time, leaving him paralyzed, propped up against his seat. Only his head and neck still seemed to be under his control.

Seras gaped.

"How did you-"

"He's a cyborg." The Master snarled, drawing his screwdriver and disintegrating the Major's left hand and forearm with a well-aimed shot. Dark steel gears and springs burst out from the arm's stump, the metal rods which served as bones jutting grossly from the end of the limb, wrapped in artificial flesh. Bloody oil oozed from the wound, forming a small pool on the floor next to the Major.

The Master cursed himself for a fool, certainly not for the first time in the last few hours.

_The name of the zeppelin: _Deus ex Machina. _God from the Machine._

Integra stepped forward, standing over the inert form of Millennium's commander as the Doctor kept him paralysed with his screwdriver.

"It's over, Major."

"It would… seem so." He answered weakly.

"So that's what you are, then?" Seras spoke up, disturbed by the revelation. "A machine!"

"Please, don't be so rude, miss… I am properly human."

The Master and the Doctor exchanged a worried look.

"Monster." Integra pronounced. "You're a freak."

"Wrong. I am human. Zhere is only one thing zhat makes us human. It's our will."

The Doctor was disturbingly reminded of Omega, the exiled Time Lord of old. After untold millions of years of solitude, his physical form had disintegrated away, leaving only his will to sustain him.

Omega had been mad, too. A monster like the Major.

"Living by using blood as ze currency of the soul," the Major continued, "and absorbing others in order to sustain one's own life… That's how pitiful monsters like Alucard must live. Don't lump me together with such frail existences. As long as I have my own will, even if all I am is a brain floating in culture fluid in a glass jar… Even if all I am is a memory chip stored in a giant computer… I will remain human. A human is a living being with a soul, a heart, und a will. Even if he smiles at you with the body of a young girl, and even if he sentimentally kneels before you in ze body of a sacred warrior, he is still a monster. Zhat is why I hate him from the bottom of my heart. I will not acknowledge ze vampire Alucard! He is a monster who appears human, and I am a human who appears to be a monster, I suppose. I am still myself."

"Zis, und zhat. Me, und you. 'We are different'. That has been the essence of all ze wars in zis world, ever since humans were born into it. You know that ve are different, too. We've long since declared war on each other. Now, let us wage it!"

Integra hesitated for only a moment before shedding her long-coat, revealing the pistol strapped to her left hip.

"Integra, don't!" The Doctor said, still holding the screwdriver tightly.

The head of Hellsing pointed toward the gun that had fallen out of the Major's chair with him. It lay within his reach.

"If you let go of that device to stop me, he'll shoot. I'm only human, Doctor. He may well kill me."

The Major laughed softly.

"Humans, Doctor. You've dedicated your lives to defending zem… and now one of them is going to kill another right in front of you as you're forced to do nothing but watch-"

"You're not human!" The Doctor yelled, his blood boiling. "I don't think you ever were! I may not be either, but I've been around them for long enough to know that you could never deserve such an honoured title!"

The Master rolled his eyes.

Integra drew her gun. The Major could only stare up at her, a satisfied smirk on his face.

Not letting the moment linger, Integra raised her pistol and but a bullet through the middle of the Major's forehead.

The Major laughed as he fell, sliding from his propped-up position against his chair to the metal floor. The Doctor deactivated his let his screwdriver and let his arm fall limply to his side. He refused to look at the Major as he died.

"Ah… zis is good." The cyborg said quietly. "A good war. It was a good war…"

The clicking, whispering noises of the gears and servos within the Major's body at last ran down, coming to a stop as the light finally left the madman's eyes.

"Die." Integra said simply. "You must die… Was it really a good war, Major?"

She placed a cigar in her mouth (out of habit more than anything else) and lit it.

"This doesn't even deserve to be called a war. It was just the logical conclusion to your drawn-out death that began sixty years ago. You had to die. It's absolute retribution. No matter how strongly you allege to be human, there is no longer a shred of humanity within you. You are a true monster."

Integra fixed her gaze onto the Doctor.

"It is always the humans who defeat the monsters in the end, because we focus on the goal of defeating something. It's not for the joy of fighting. It's because of the duty we must fulfil."

The Doctor nodded strongly, meeting Integra's eyes. For the first time, the two of them were completely in tune. In this respect, the Doctor was as human as her: Their duty was to the human race. They both had no choice but to choose.

"You are not human." She continued, returning her eyes to the Major's shell.

"And that is why he will return!"

Silence reined on the bridge. Only the distant thunder of the approaching explosions could be heard as the zeppelin's last systems finally failed.

"And now…" The Doctor said, turning to the Master. "You."

Integra continued to stare off into the distance, Walter in her thoughts.

Seras bristled, however, prepared to seize the Master at the Doctor's command. He had been with Millennium right up until thing had started going Hellsing's way. There was no way she was going to let someone so ruthless and so treacherous loose into the world.

"Very well, then." The Master said wearily; his tone put-upon in the extreme. "I'll come quietly. My hands are up."

He raised his arms above his head in surrender. The sleeves of his long black coat fell down slightly around his forearms as he did so. The gesture revealed Jack's Vortex Manipulator strapped to his right wrist.

The Master flashed a final grin and touched the activation control with his left index finger.

"NOOO!" The Doctor bellowed, running at the Master as he disappeared in a burst of light, leaving behind an echoing laugh. Not even Seras' shadow arm was swift enough to catch him. The Doctor cursed under his breath and violently kicked a chunk of debris.

Integra, who had barely noticed these events, suddenly bent almost double, her heart breaking under the weight of emotion she had just felt.

"Walter has left us." She explained simply.

"I see." Seras acknowledged, her face grim.

The Doctor nodded. His premonition had come true, then. Millennium's twisted science would die here, thanks to Walter.

The cascade of explosions finally reached the bridge. The metal frame creaked and groaned under the stress. Seras was forced to extend her shadow arm over the three of them to block the colossal weight of the chunks of ceiling falling down around them.

"To the TARDIS!" The Doctor shouted over the clamour, leading Integra and Seras into the safety of the blue box. It hummed and groaned as it departed. Metal components fell all around the dematerializing time machine as the airship burned and crumpled under its own weight.

The internal explosions continued, the zeppelin's red-and-black skin peeled away by the inferno the superstructure had become. The steel skeleton collapsed, melting and twisting under the heat, finally falling in an enormous pile of slag onto the city streets, releasing a massive dust cloud which mingled with the towering cloud of black smoke the wreck was releasing into the bright blue morning sky.

And it was such a beautiful morning.

* * *

**Author's Notes: Hopefully people won't think that I pulled a Moffat by using Ten's last words out of context.**

**The Manifold Regeneration Technique is my own invention, and the only way I could imagine Jack being defeated in any kind of final way.**

**The 'who'd have laser?' line is, of course, a callback to the Master's line in ****_The Sound of Drums_**** (2007).**

**Omega appeared in ****_The Three Doctors_**** (1972-1973) and ****_Arc of Infinity_**** (1983).**


	16. Ch 14: Vale Undecim

**Chapter 14: Vale Undecim**

The swords clashed once again, Integra manoeuvring nimbly against her opponent. As she moved, almost appearing to dance as her footwork intensified, she remembered that day thirty years ago; the last day she had used her blade against an enemy, rather than in practice.

_The column in the centre of the control room bobbed gently up and down as the TARDIS moved through time and space. The Doctor made a few final adjustments to the console while Seras applied bandages to Integra's wounds as she sat upon Alucard's silent coffin._

_"Aren't you going to ask me why I've changed, Seras?" The Doctor asked coyly._

_"Well- You haven't though- Not __really__. It's like master said, you __feel__ the same."_

_Smiling now, the Doctor paced over to Seras as the TARDIS settled with a thud._

_"Seras Victoria… Were you ever told what your name means?"_

_"No, sir. My parents-" Seras' voice caught for a moment, "died when I was very young."_

_The Doctor's face fell. He composed himself before continuing._

_"Ceres was the ancient Roman goddess of springtime. When her daughter was kidnapped by the King of the Underworld, she stopped at nothing to get her back. She halted the seasons themselves until the gods were forced to intercede."_

_"Did she get her daughter back?"_

_"Yes," the Doctor smiled sadly, "but at a cost… You are that victory, Seras. Ceres Victorious."_

_Seras smiled at the sentiment, though not quite understanding why._

_Integra remembered something her father had once told her; something his grandfather, Abraham Van Helsing, had once told him._

_"He means there are darknesses in life and there are lights," Integra said, "and you are one of the lights."_

_The Doctor nodded to Integra, the ghost of a smile on his face widening slightly as he recognized the words. _

_"What about the Master?" Integra asked directly._

_"Oh, he'll resurface somewhere… sometime. It could be a week. It could be centuries. But now, you need to help the Earth recover from what happened. __I'll__ deal with the Master when he comes back."_

_"You won't stay, then?" Integra asked levelly._

_The Doctor started slightly, surprised by the unfamiliar invitation. He shook his head slowly, still smiling._

_"I can't. I have one more thing to do before this is finally over."_

_"Will we… meet again, Doctor?"_

_"…I honestly don't know."_

_Integra held out her hand to the Doctor. He grasped it firmly, meeting her eyes in friendship._

_"Keep the faith." she said simply._

_"The same to you, Sir Integra."_

Integra flipped her opponent's sword out of his hand, duplicating the move that the Doctor had used on the Master decades ago.

"Halt!" Seras announced. "The match is settled! Lady Integra wins!"

Integra shed her fencing mask, letting her long white hair flow out around her. Light applause was heard from the edge of the room. Alexander Anderson stood there, slowly clapping, flanked by two of his Iscariot subordinates.

"Splendid." He praised, a hint of mischief in his voice. "Your skills have not faded in the slightest."

"Father Anderson?" Integra asked. "You were supposed to wait in the reception room."

"Well you see, waiting around doesn't exactly suit us." Anderson replied, looking the same as ever. "And we did wait quite a while, but nobody even gave us a cup of tea. We grew a bit tired of it."

"I can't have you walking around as you please." Integra said firmly. "Please return."

Seras nodded, an attempt at a fierce expression on her face.

"Yes, very well." Anderson put up his arms in placation. "Let's return then. Makube, Heinkel…"

The three left, Heinkel shooting one last glare in Seras' direction. Her artificial hand and foot she had needed after her final attack on Walter were well-disguised, but her face still bore the wound the Captain had inflicted on her thirty years ago. She still required bandages to hold herself together.

Seras returned the glare with a smirk. One day, the two of them would battle; that was certain.

* * *

The Iscariot delegation paced back along the hallway of the rebuilt Hellsing Manor.

"Director Anderson?" Makube inquired. "Their internal security is full of holes, as usual. We could win now-"

"Child." Heinkel interrupted. "You mus' be blind."

Anderson punched the wall next to him. It immediately erupted into a wave of red and black energies that ran the length of the hallway, disappearing down the end of the passage.

Wincing, Anderson held his hand as it regenerated the slight damage from the burning barrier.

"That hurt!" He exclaimed. "Was that really necessary?" He asked of the empty air.

"What was that?" Makube asked, staring around him in shock.

"It's Seras Victoria's shadow." Anderson explained. "It's been enveloping the entire mansion, and us along with it."

"But," Heinkel pointed out, "'n exchange for me an' Makube, we coul' take out half the Roun' Table."

"No." Anderson said. "Not yet! We've lost too much. The Vatican lost too much power after the Ninth Crusade. It is no matter. We can wait."

The three paladins set off again.

"We've waited five hundred years. What's another one or two centuries? The Tenth Crusade will be successful!"

* * *

The TARDIS landed with finality, the noise of its engines dying abruptly. The Doctor exited the doors, finding himself on an empty patch of wasteland which stretched out to the horizon. Dark clouds roiled in the sky, and the entire location was washed with a source-less blood-red light. Apart from himself and the TARDIS, the only landmarks were the two other people present. Alucard stood a few paces away, his face obscured by his long hair, his coat flapping in the slight breeze. He held a massively long lance in his hand; its end stained with fresh blood. It dripped steadily from the wickedly sharp end. The lance was levelled at Schrodinger, who sat on the ground across from the vampire; a terrified expression on his face. The two looked to the Doctor.

"How are you here?" Alucard rumbled.

"The same way he is." The Doctor answered. "You drank me in, remember? Not all of me, though, but a portion. The TARDIS was able to lock on to that portion, even through the Void. Normally entering someone's time-stream like this would be impossible, but you're technically a location, as well as an entity. That made things easier."

"And why are you here?"

The Doctor pointed squarely at Schrodinger.

"Again: Him."

Alucard tilted his head to the side in confusion. He shouldered the lance, letting the blood from the blade drip invisibly onto his red coat.

"So I take it you know what I've been doing these last years."

"Releasing the souls within you would be your only way of returning from the Void. Only then could you observe yourself- could you visualise yourself back in the universe."

"So you understand why I have to do this." Alucard lowered his lance again. Schrodinger flinched in response as the twilight glinted off of the shining spear-point.

"There's been enough killing on the Major's account, Vlad. And as far as I know, he hasn't done any of it."

Alucard did not waver as the Doctor continued his appeal.

"Schrodinger never knew any better. He was raised by monsters, but I don't think he has to remain one. The TARDIS can contain him; he'll be a singular, linear entity for as long as he's inside it. I'll take him where he can't harm anyone…. I'll make him better."

"Why would you go to all that that trouble?"

The Time Lord spread his hands, presenting himself simply.

"I'm still the Doctor."

There was another pause as Alucard considered. Schrodinger's face remained tense and frightened, not believing for a moment that the Vampire King would let the creature that had brought him so low live.

"This is all academic, Doctor. If you take him, I won't have the power to make it back. I won't be able to be everywhere and nowhere."

"You already have enough of his power to make it home from the millions of souls you've reaped. He was spread and intermixed among them all. What you see in front of you now is just the last entity in your kingdom who you don't recognize as yourself; the last of your subjects. Let me take him away, Count."

"Let me give you clarity."

Alucard brought the lance forward, spearing it down into his target with tremendous force.

Schrodinger gasped in shock, only able to stare at the spear-shaft as it quivered beside him. The point had pierced a good foot into the rocky ground next to Schrodinger, missing the cat-boy entirely.

"Why?" the former Warrant Officer managed to get out.

"Why indeed?" Alucard wondered aloud, staring down at the creature amusedly. "For fun? For sport? Maybe it was just a whim… Maybe, but that doesn't sound like me. Perhaps after years spent with humans they've finally rubbed off on me."

"I know the feeling." The Doctor said, smiling now.

Schrodinger got to his feet and slunk slowly over to the Doctor, his ears still flattened against his head.

"I'm going to be your prisoner, then?" He said sadly.

"Until I'm convinced you're not a threat, yes. But I promise not to mistreat you."

The Doctor re-opened the TARDIS doors with a snap of his fingers.

"And you'll find your new home quite spacious, I promise you that as well."

The boy walked tentatively into the box, disappearing into it for a moment before laughing with delight as he saw the inside. He emerged again, running a lap around the exterior to confirm its apparent size before diving back in through the doors, all his worries vanishing.

"I suppose you'll be returning home now, eh, Count?" The Doctor asked Alucard, who had adopted a neutral expression. "Integra and Seras will have been waiting a long time for you."

"…Doctor, I've been able to see the cat's memories since he became a part of me. The Master told him what you did to your people."

The Doctor's face hardened. He gave no reply.

"We slaughter our enemies and sacrifice all our allies." Alucard quoted himself, a smile spreading across his face. "It will never be enough. We are incorrigible warmongers, aren't we Doctor?"

"What I did… I did in the name of-"

_Peace and sanity?!_

He blanched, for a moment unable to look into the vampire's crimson eyes.

"That wasn't me. That isn't who I am now."

Alucard's smile disappeared. His voice was grim.

"Don't think that you can abandon responsibility for your wrongdoing just because it was on a day it wasn't possible to get it right. You answered The Call to War once before, Doctor… What will you do when it comes a second time?"

A chill ran through the Doctor as he saw the honest worry lurking deep in the pits of Alucard's eyes.

"What else have you heard?" he asked carefully.

"We lie in the Void, Doctor: A space between worlds- between universes, as you say. Possibilities and prophecies from across time ring through the empty space; this In-Between, like sound carries across a bottomless canyon."

"Something ancient has been watching. I've felt his eyes on me since I was banished here. Like I do, he longs to return home."

"From the Void?"

"No. This is just one more place his vision can reach. He's going to make his move soon, Doctor... And you may the only one able to face him when he does."

* * *

The Doctor closed the TARDIS doors behind him, taking a moment to calm himself from the disturbing effect of Alucard's last, cryptic warning. He took a deep breath and gazed at the sight around him.

He had taken the time to remodel the TARDIS interior as he made the necessary calculations to land within Alucard's world-body. The coral structures were now gone, replaced with a larger, better lit chamber. The new control room's design was very 'retro', or at least the Doctor's idea of what 'retro' was. The arrangement of the controls around the hexagonal console was haphazard and mad, including a typewriter, a telegraph, a gramophone, and a set of hot and cold taps.

Schrodinger sat on the edge of one of the metal railings surrounding the main console, and hopped down to the glass floor as the Doctor approached.

"You were right, Doctor. Since I walked in and observed myself in here, I can't be anywhere else, now. I guess it makes sense that the one place I couldn't visualize myself into is the one place that I can't visualize myself out of."

"And how does that feel?"

The youth's left ear twitched as he considered carefully.

"Different. But I suppose it's nice to be in just one place for once. Like going on vacation." Schrodinger looked around, taking in his bizarre surroundings. "And it's really a time machine?!"

"Yes, indeed: Time And Relative Dimension In Space. But, first thing's first."

The Doctor ripped the swastika armband off of Schrodinger's uniform.

"You're off to find some new clothes in the wardrobe. First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your left."

Schrodinger hesitated for a moment, repeating the directions to himself carefully under his breath, a look of confusion growing on his face. The Doctor clapped his hands brusquely, prompting him into motion.

"Hurry up!"

The boy's uncertainty was soon overtaken with the excitement of being able to pick his own clothes for the first time. He sprinted to the nearest exit from the console room, laughing with joy. The Doctor winced as the sound of a number of falling coat-racks and other paraphernalia reached him from down the hallway.

"Here we go again."

He worked the madcap controls of his TARDIS deftly, making careful adjustments as the time rotor activated, pulling the machine out of the Void. The Doctor whooped with joy as he shot out of Alucard's paradigm and back into the universe like a rocket, all of time and space lying before him.

* * *

**Author's Notes: The 'light of all lights' quote is from the original book ****_Dracula_****, said by Van Helsing to Mina Harker.**


	17. Epilogue: Constants and Variables

**Epilogue: Constants and Variables**

The twins watched from a distance as the TARDIS de-materialized, leaving them alone in Alucard's world-body, undetectable by him as they stood sentinel in the barren, blood-red landscape.

"And the TARDIS will crash?" the woman asked.

"In Leadworth, 1996. As it should." The man replied. "He'll think it's the strain of leaving the Void without the guide-rope of his blood connecting him to Alucard."

"And his past?"

"As a Time Lord, he'll remember both timelines: His life events and interactions with Rose, Martha, and Donna before he fought Millennium, as well as the altered timeline he just created by encountering Millennium in 1999. Unlike it would with a human, the dissonance will not break his mind."

"And with a little help from us, paradox will be kept at bay and this timeline will remain stable, despite the number of important events that were invalidated or changed by the involvement of the Master and the Doctor."

"Of course."

"And we're sure this is the Doctor we want?"

"Yes."

"Of all the infinite Doctors across all the infinite alternate universes, this is the one?"

"Yes."

"We only get one chance, you realize. It won't be like it was with Mr. Dewitt… all one hundred and twenty-three of him."

"He fulfils all the requirements we set out. And any variance between him and the infinite amount of other Doctors who meet those requirements must be pronounced negligible."

"But we can't know that for sure. You would leave this up to a coin toss?"

"If we've accounted for everything we can, then I see no reason why not."

"Dear brother, don't tell me you still believe in the ridiculous notion of fate after all that we've seen; after all that we've done. What makes you think that because this is the first Doctor we've found that meets our criteria that he will be the one to triumph? The result is concealed from us!"

"All I'm saying… is that he is as good a choice as any other we might make; even if we devoted infinite time to a search."

He continued, his face showing clear emotion for the first time as it twisted with worry.

"And the vampire was right. The Doctor may be the only one able to face Him if our plan fails to prevent His return."

There was a long pause as the twins stared out into space, unblinking. They appeared terrifyingly alien; untouchable and godlike; their minds operating on a level wholly different from anything that could be called human.

"We should go." Rosalind said at length.

"Indeed. We're expected in Paris." Robert agreed. "It wouldn't do to miss our appointment."

Then the pair was gone, leaving Alucard to return home. The vampire gratefully left behind him the sense of covetous eyes burning into his back. The Void was empty once more. No stranded Time Lords, no dimension-jumping cat-boys. Just The Void…

No light.

No dark.

No up.

No down.

No life.

No time.

Without end.

THE END

* * *

**Author's Notes: Ending cameo by two characters from Bioshock Infinite. They'll be appearing more heavily in the as-yet untitled sequel (details coming soon on my author profile).**

**Many heartfelt thanks for liking this story enough to read it to the end. This was my first multi-chapter fic to be completed, and if just one other person out there is entertained by it, then it was more than worthwhile for me to post it here.**

**-Arachnian**


End file.
